Lawmakers to foot own bills during regional sittings
Members of Parliament during a plenary chaired by Speaker Anita Among at Parliament on July 2. Ms Among’s decision to convene plenary sittings across all four corners of the country has opened a can of worms. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA.
Members of Parliament are expected to foot their own bills during the four-day Regional Parliamentary sitting that kicks off in Gulu City on August 28.
A source privy to details of the sitting on August 26 said: “Each MP has been facilitated by Parliament for the sitting; just as the MPs always go out to the field for committee visits and other official activities and pay for their accommodation, their meals, and other costs.”
The source, however, said the facilitation does not cover transport since it has been separately catered for by Parliament. The source did not disclose how much each MP had been paid.
In an August 19 circular, the Clerk to Parliament, Mr Adolf Mwesigye, notified MPs of availability of buses to transport them to Gulu City for the parliamentary sitting that commences on August 28 at Kaunda Grounds, Gulu City, at 10am.
The regional sitting opens with a cocktail of field activities, including a visit to late Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah’s resting place in Omoro District by his successor, Ms Anita Among.
Other activities on the same day will include the official opening of a medical camp at Pece Primary School in Gulu City, ground-breaking and laying of a foundation stone for the construction of a wall fence around Kaunda Grounds, and separate meetings with boda boda association, and market women groups.
Mr Chris Obore, the Parliament’s director for communication, had in an August 22 statement, said: “Members of Parliament and the selected staff who will be on duty during these sittings will be entitled to a rated subsistence allowance, out of which they will meet all their living expenses there.”
He then said the Parliamentary Commission budgeted for and received funding for its activities and the session in Gulu in the Financial Year 2024/2025.
Mr Obore said he was also convinced that holding regional plenary sittings would ease the oversight, legislative, and appropriation functions of Parliament and “hope to attain better results with Parliament getting to citizens.
Part of schedule
August 26 and 27: MPs and staff depart from Kampala.
August 26-31: Medical camp at Pece Primary School.
August 27: Speaker Anita Among to visit resting place of her predecessor Jacob Oulanya in Omoro County, open medical camp officially and donate items
to Pece Primary School and Gulu Prisons P7 Primary School, lead in planting trees with her deputy Thomas Tayebwa at different sites, lay foundation stone at Kaunda Grounds, among others.
August 28,29 and 30: Plenary sitting. President Museveni to address Parliament on August 29.
August 31: MPs leave Gulu.
September 1: Staff leave Gulu.
