President Museveni is currently on a countrywide tour to assess the performance of PDM as he promotes his four-acre model
A section of MPs on Parliament’s Budget Committee have queried the request by State House for the provision of Shs83.033Bn for Presidential donations and Shs10Bn for the purchase of vehicles the President would use during the election campaigns ahead of the 2026 general elections.
This followed a request made by Alex Byarugaba, Chairperson Presidential Affairs Committee, who warned that the failure by President Museveni to fulfill his presidential pledges is affecting his image as a Fountain of Honour, and that the money for cars be availed to facilitate the President’s movements during the busy electoral period and need to monitor the Parish Development Model.
“State House requires Shs83.03Bn to facilitate payment of pending donations but only Shs53.033Bn is provided for, in the MTEF ceiling. Resulting into a funding gap of Shs30Bn. That is very terrible and remember, most of our areas, we have something we demand as far as the Presidential pledges are concerned. Shs30Bn be provided to State House to facilitate the fulfillment of the presidential donation. It is important that this one be seriously looked into,” Byarugaba noted.
He defended the request noting, “And the justification is that unfilled presidential pledges were among the few budget execution challenges to State House, year in, year out. This isn’t new and it has been out over and over again. Unfulfilled pledges that span beyond a particular term of office may negatively also impact on the image of the Fountain of Honour and therefore calls for enhanced allocation.
On the need for campaign cars, Byarugaba noted, “The Committee established that State House has an aging fleet whose maintenance cost increase every year. The country is getting into a very busy election season and monitoring of the Parish Development Model.”
Ibrahim Ssemujju (Kira Municipality) however wondered why the President should be reduced to the level of an extension worker, monitoring projects in sugar cane and banana plantations and why campaign cars for the National Resistance Movement should be featured in the national budget.
“The Chairperson of the Committee reports in the summary that State House wants Shs10Bn to buy vehicles and the justification is that this is a very busy election season and monitoring the PDM. The President isn’t an Extension worker who should be in the sugarcane plantations. You need to establish a serious extension system that goes to sugarcanes, banana. But you have a Head of State becoming an Extension worker. The other day, I saw him on a bicycle with bisanja, this is ridiculous,” remarked Ssemujju.
He added, “But also, you can’t justify the buying of vehicles for the NRM campaigns and you put it in a national budget, that we buy him vehicles because he has a campaign period.”
Anthony Akol (Kilak South) demanded the list of the Presidential pledges State House was going to pay off this time around, arguing that although money has been provided for this term, many parts of the country are grappling with unfulfilled pledges.
He said, “We have been providing money for presidential pledges, how are they fulfilled? What is the criteria? Can we now have a list for this particular budget, which ones are going to be fulfilled and are not? Because all the constituencies have presidential pledges, you wonder, year after year, they aren’t fulfilled and there is no criteria to select which one can be fulfilled.”
