HOW COULD THE NRM GOVERNMENT SPEND SHS 2.5BN ON BURIAL OF OULANYAH?

 WHAT ARE THE PRIORITIES OF THE NRM GOVERNMENT FOLLOWING THE HEFTY EXPENDITURES TO SEE OFF LATE Rt. HON. JACOB OULANYAH?

Uganda Government MUST have priorities or else some actors in Government are simply ignorant of what they are doing. Tuesday, March 29 many Ugandans could not believe that a serious Government that has been in power for 36 years could make a budget of shs 2.5bn to see off the dead body of just one person. 

Ugandans were shocked on February, 8 2022 when the then Deputy Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Anita Among confirmed that Oulanyah had been taken to US. It was later leant that the Parliament of Uganda had chartered a Uganda Airlines plane at a discounted cost of US $500,000 (Shs 1.7bn)!

It is important to note that if the Medical Board of Uganda which is mandated to authorize such treatment for Government officers had been left to do its job, I think they would have said that it was too late to save Oulanyah’s life, hence he needed to be cared for locally until God would decide otherwise.

Before we talk of the budget to burial, it is a fact that Uganda has spent on the hospital where Oulanyah was taken and the people who have been in his care. There was expenditure on a delegation including the Deputy Speaker who hurried to USA possibly to see him before he breathed his last.

We as Ugandans appreciate the good works by Oulanyah and many pray to God that He is forgiven whatever he may have done wrong to fellow men as well as his God. However, in a country with stinking poverty, it is unbelievable that some people could have come up with a budget of shs 2.5bn for the burial of Oulanyah.

It would have made a lot of sense if Government decided for example to start a revolving fund of shs 2bn for the village mates of Oulanyah as consolation to them following the great loss of their dear son. I think the people would really benefit from such a scheme if put into hands of trustworthy Ugandans.

Government is able to raise shs 2.5bn for burial of Oulanyah but many health facilities don’t have basics. The Health services in Uganda are functioning partly because donors are at hand to assist, unfortunately, the leaders of those being assisted don’t realize how vulnerable they are financially to the extent that by the time Hon. Oulanyah is buried, the country may have spent in excess of shs 4bn! Where is the value for money here?

If these matters were not politicized, I imagine the Ministry of Finance would have said: No, given the unfunded priorities, shs 2.5bn is not available.

The Government has local or domestic arrears where people have for a long time failed to get payment. Some lost securities they gave to the financial institutions.

Any serious Ugandan should be praying to God that the country does not lose more high profile persons in the course of 2022, which unfortunately will not happen. We were shown a budget to burial of Mutebile which was not less than shs 400m, then Father Lokodo was also estimated to the tune of shs 409 including repatriation of the remains. At that rate surely where is Uganda headed to?

This is a subject I can write about endlessly. Until Ugandans in responsible offices become patriotic, the country is simply in a big mess.