Museveni in a group photo with soldiers who received medals
Office of the Presidency wants Shs4.874bn to procure 1165 medals for for Presidential Awards. This is after Government run out of medals.
However, only Shs339Million has been availed, leaving shortfall of Shs4.235bn.
The request was made by Sadat Kisuyi, Principal Economist, Office of President while appearing before Parliament’s Presidential Affairs Committee to defend the Ministry’s 2022/2023 National Budget Framework Paper.
Kisuyi said that the stock of ‘Most Excellent Order of the Pearl of Africa’ and ‘Distinguished Order of the Pearl of Africa’ had run out, yet these are bestowed upon visiting heads of states. He urged the Committee to save President Museveni from untold embarrassment by approving Shs4.23bn for the procurement of these medals.
“We are leaving the golden jubilee, we shall need medals because they are exhausted. It can cause an embarrassment if a head of state can come and we aren’t able to honour him with an appropriate medal when we are having some of state functions,” said Kisuyi.
Peter Ogwang, Minister of State for Economic Monitoring defended the budget for medals, urging Ugandans to appreciate the importance of awarding medals to people who do outstanding service in society.
He said: “Let us first appreciate that the issue of giving medals is one that issues that is a law of this Parliament. We as Presidency have planned to have money and put there and in case any head of state comes and the President deems they fit to be awarded medals, we must have resources to do this and this is one of the areas that has no money or there is little money but we shall work within the available resources.”
The Office of the Presidency is also seeking for Shs5Bn to undertake maintenance works at National Le4adership Institute in Kyankwanzi after sinking Shs7.9Bn in its construction.
In the 2022/2023 budget, the Presidency will get Shs129.713Bn of which Shs17.494Bn will cater for wages, Shs96.725Bn for non wage items and Shs115.496Bn for other expenditures.
