Outrage in Uganda after MPs get 25m euros to buy cars

Uganda this week doled out 25 million euros to MPs to buy new cars, sparking outrage in a poor country where the coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc.

Each of the 529 lawmakers were handed 200 million shillings (48,000 euros, $56,500) to get new vehicles at a time when Covid-19 cases are surging.

On June 18, President Yoweri Museveni announced curbs on movement and shuttered schools, churches and bars for at least six weeks.

"It is unacceptable for a government to buy luxuries to a small group in parliament, who continue to receive monthly pay of over 30 million shillings (about $8,000) while the larger population are unable to feed themselves," said Anet Nana Namata, an active human rights defender and executive director of the Union of Human Rights Defenders Uganda.

A manual labourer earns an average monthly salary of about Shs100, 000 (24 euros) while a teacher gets just over Shs260, 000 (64 euros).

Moses Isooba, leader of the National NGO Forum added: "This act is shameful at a time the government is appealing to private citizens to contribute money to buy the Covid-19 vaccine."

He said the money could be used instead to distribute 20 euros each "to the most vulnerable 500,000 persons".

Confronted with mounting public anger, government spokesman Ofwono Opondo, defended the decision as being in line with a time-honoured tradition.

"It is to facilitate their engagement with the electorate. In any case, the civil society organisations have been part of the budgeting processes and knew long time the MPs were to get money to buy cars," he said.

In 2018, a similar move sparked protests with activists storming parliament before being dispersed.

Uganda, a country of 45 million people, has recorded 91,710 Covid cases and 2,496 deaths.

Only about one million people have been vaccinated so far.