Museveni Gives NRM MPs Shs100 Million Each After Kyankwanzi Retreat

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has given Shs100 million to each National Resistance Movement (NRM) Member of Parliament following the conclusion of a retreat at Kyankwanzi.
📸: Daily monitor

The development comes after a week long gathering held at the National Leadership Institute Kyankwanzi, where NRM MPs and aligned legislators met for ideological orientation and discussions on governance, party principles, and national priorities.

According to reports, the money shall be distributed to MPs who attended the retreat, which brought together both newly elected and returning legislators under the ruling party. The facilitation is said to have been extended at the end of the training sessions.

During the retreat, President Museveni addressed MPs on a range of issues, including wealth creation, economic transformation, and the need for leaders to remain grounded in the NRM ideology. He emphasized discipline, patriotism, and aligning legislative work with national development goals.
The Kyankwanzi retreat is a regular platform used by the NRM to orient its members of Parliament and build consensus on policy direction ahead of parliamentary business.
(Daily monitor)

President Museveni donated Shs100 million to each of over 400 NRM MPs after their nine-day retreat at Kyankwanzi's National Leadership Institute, paying Shs20 million in cash upfront and promising the rest later for swearing-in preparations.

President Museveni yesterday handed Shs100 million to each of the more than 400 Members of Parliament (MPs) who attended the nine-day NRM retreat in Kyankwanzi.

The President said he was giving out Shs20 million in cash and promised that the balance would be paid later.

The payout, amounting to more than Shs40 billion in total, is intended to support legislators as they prepare for swearing-in and other parliamentary responsibilities. However, the source of the funds was not immediately clear.

Mr Museveni made the announcement shortly after warning MPs against corruption, which he said continues to undermine the country’s development. “Achako million pyere liyo,” the President said in Acholi, loosely translated as “I will start with Shs20 million,” before indicating that the remaining Shs80 million would follow.

The NRM Secretary General, Mr Richard Todwong, clarified the arrangement to the legislators, saying the initial Shs20 million would be paid immediately, with the balance to come later.

Questions have since emerged over the capacity in which the President made the donation, given his multiple roles, including Head of State and chairperson of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).

The Presidency also operates a donation budget estimated at Shs163 billion. The deputy Presidential Press Secretary, Mr Faruk Kirunda referred this newspaper to the NRM Secretariat. Efforts to reach out to Mr Todwong last evening were futile.

However, the spokesperson of NRM, Mr Emmanuel Dombo said: “We were visitors of the President and he is the one who spoke to the MPs. For now, I can’t say exactly where the money is coming from.

The President may choose to give them from his own pocket or at the Secretariat, we normally receive quarterly releases so when he directs us to use that, we shall do that. Between the time he said and now (yesterday night), I have not met him to seek his clarification on the same.”

Economists, civil society actors and Opposition politicians have raised concerns about the implications of the cash handout, particularly if the funds were drawn from the Consolidated Fund.

Source : Daily Monitor


Photo credit: Newvision