Museveni swear-in to cost Shs30b

Posted Thursday, March 31 2011 at 00:00

The May 12 presidential swearing-in ceremony will cost taxpayers at least Shs30 billion, according to a supplementary budget tabled in Parliament yesterday.

The money for the one-day event is part of the Shs151.6 billion needed by the government in both recurrent, statutory and development expenditures to meet unexpected spending pressures.

The budget
Tabled by the State Minister for Finance, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, the supplementary budget will cater for the office of the President (Shs3 billion), the Ministry of Public Service (Shs56.5 billion) and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (Shs92 billion).

A total supplementary of Shs56.5 billion will cater for pension payments of teachers, general civil service and military service staff.

Another Shs92 billion is an additional funding for the construction of Mutundwe Thermal Power plant.

Ms Nankabirwa said the funds provided by the World Bank for the construction of the plant were not enough.

The construction of the 50MW power plant is expected to cost Shs251 billion.

The tabled supplementary budget comes only two months after the Parliament passed a Shs600 billion budget which opposition politicians suspected was for funding the NRM campaigns.
It also comes ahead of another awaited supplementary budget for financing the purchase of fighter jets and other military hardware estimated at $740 million (about Shs1.7trillion).

The new Shs151.6 billion supplementary budget comes after Parliament controversially approved a Shs602.5 billion budget in the middle of preparations for the February 18 general elections.
The opposition and civil society condemned the act, alleging that the money would be used to campaign for President Museveni and bribe voters. The ruling NRM party has since denied the allegations.

There was no debate on the new supplementary budget. Speaker Edward Ssekandi forwarded the matter to the Budget Committee where MPs will decide on whether to accept or reject the new government request for additional resources. The committee is expected to demand the details of the Shs30 billion needed for Museveni’s swearing-in ceremony.