State House Covid tests cost taxpayers billions

The government has over the past 72 weeks spent at least Shs1.6 billion on testing various groups of individuals for Covid-19 ahead of planned meetings with President Museveni, Sunday Monitor has established.

Whereas the need to shield the President from any pathogens that may impede him from discharging his duties cannot be overemphasised, experts say the cost of living crisis should prompt a rethink around the routine tests.

The State House and the Office of the President require all persons due to hold meetings with President Museveni to have a PCR negative test certificate. This should be issued within 48 hours from the time the sample was collected to the time of the meeting.

Dr Timothy Batuwa, the Jinja City West constituency lawmaker, who doubles as shadow Health minister, told Sunday Monitor that “there is no logic informing the need to test those people prior to those meetings.”

Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Information and National Guidance minister, has however, defended the mandatory tests, saying they are “a public health measure.”

“It is a precaution that we must take if we are to be safe and it definitely comes with a cost,” Dr Baryomunsi said.

Dr Arthur Bainomugisha, the executive director of Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (Acode), says it’s without question that “the taxpayers have to pay to keep the President safe and to keep him healthy and protect him from any danger.” A survey by Sunday Monitor shows that this has come at a great financial cost.

Cabinet meetings

Mr Museveni’s 82-strong Cabinet, which includes a vice president, 31 substantive ministers and 50 junior ministers, is required to meet at least once (Monday) every week. The meetings are also attended by the secretary general of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, as well as the Secretary to the Cabinet. That means at least 84 people are tested ahead of every such meeting.

The cost of testing for Covid-19 at the 26 laboratories accredited by the Health ministry varies from one lab to another. Our survey revealed that the cost ranges between Shs160,000 and Shs200,000 per test.

If we are to go with the minimum cost of Shs160,000 per test, it means the taxpayer spends at least Shs13.4m per week on testing the 84 individuals.

The current Cabinet was sworn in last June and commenced in-person meetings in July of 2021. Our study estimates that they met at least 24 times last year, with 38 other meetings and counting added to the tally this year. This works to about 72 meetings and 72 tests estimated to have cost Shs967.6m over the last 16 months.

Testing for public functions

The country has celebrated at least seven public functions (Independence Day, Liberation Day, Janaan Luwum Day, Women’s Day, National Heroes Day) since the Cabinet was sworn in.

If we are to use the standard of 800 guests who descended on Kololo for the recent Independence Day celebrations, it means Shs128m was spent on testing guests on each of the seven public functions. That would mean the taxpayer has spent at least Shs896m on testing invited guests.

Testing NRM caucus

The President has at the same time held at least four meetings with members of the parliamentary caucus of the NRM party. If the invitation that the then Government Chief Whip, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, sent out in the second week of March is anything to go by, all members of the caucus are also required to undergo testing prior to engagements with the party chairman.

“All members are required to undertake a Covid test … Only members who will have taken the test with the prescribed service provider at the parliamentary conference hall will attend,” Mr Tayebwa wrote.

There are 337 NRM MPs and at least 65 NRM-leaning Independent lawmakers that make up the caucus. Testing them ahead of every meeting would cost the taxpayer at least Shs64.3m.

Some of the meetings with the caucus include one of March 16, another on April 26—which discussed soaring commodity prices, the Lubowa Hospital project and the controversial coffee agreement that the government signed with Uganda Vinci Coffee Limited. September 16 also brought with it another caucus, which focused on the then elections to the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala).

Testing of members ahead of the meetings of the caucus has cost the taxpayers at least Shs257.2m.

Budget, SONA testing

Legislators and invitees to the June 7 State-of-the-Nation-Address (SONA) and the reading of the Budget for Financial Year 2022/2023 also had to undergo testing, most of them at the cost of the taxpayer.

If all the 529 members of the 11th Parliament underwent the mandatory test ahead of the SONA, it means the taxpayer forked out Shs84.6m on the tests. The same amount was spent on the legislators ahead of the reading of the National Budget, which brings to Shs169.2m the total spent on testing them for the two occasions.

This guesstimate excludes government officials who attended the said meetings.

Testing journalists

Besides those groups of people having to undergo mandatory tests, journalists from all media houses who cover events at which Mr Museveni and his wife—the Minister for Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni—are in attendance, also have to be tested.

A senior editor told Sunday Monitor that the media houses had initially been required to pick the bills, but they protested given the many functions which the President and his wife attend.

“We sent a protest note to the President’s media team, informing them that we would not be able to meet the cost of testing ahead of every function. A decision was then made for the State to handle the bills,” the editor revealed.

Whereas it was not possible to establish the number of journalists who cover functions attended by the President and the First Lady, it is generally known the State-owned New Vision and its sister papers such as Bukedde; the Daily Monitor; the Weekly Observer; and television stations including Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), NTV Uganda, NBS Television and Urban Television deploy writers/reporters and photographers/camera operators.

Added to those are the radio journalists and journalists attached to online publications and foreign news channels.

That means functions graced by the President and the First Lady are bound to attract at least 50 journalists. That means an average of Shs8m is spent on testing journalists alone.

If we are to put the number of events that journalists attended at two, the guesstimate we ended up with for events covered by a journalist is 30 per a year. This means Shs240m is spent on testing journalists.

Huge costs amid cuts

The huge cost that the country is incurring on testing Cabinet ministers and other government officials comes in the wake of recent announcement by the Finance ministry that it was cutting government spending as part of an effort to rein in rampant corruption and high interest rates.

In July, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, announced a whittling down of public expenditure costs from 25 percent to 18.9 percent, a move which he attributed to “economic difficulties”.

The move meant that spending on the acquisition of goods and provision of services in sectors such as education, defence, healthcare, social protection had all been affected.

Why no virtual meetings?

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic shows how costs can be cut by swapping in-person meetings with their virtual cousin. The business consultant, Royale Scruderi, while writing for the website www.americanexpress.com, proffered that virtual technology had proven to be a cost reduction strategy.

“Virtual meetings help minimise travel expenses, and virtual offices can eliminate the need for physical space,” Mr Scrudeli wrote.

Dr Batuwa questions why the government has not warmed up to virtual meetings as an austerity measure. He reasons that besides the PCR tests, costs on fuel would be taken out of the picture.

Dr Baryomunsi, however, defends the insistence on physical meetings, saying they are necessary given the size of the Cabinet. He also says the Cabinet has since scaled down on what it spends on things like meals and refreshments during meetings.

“In all these (meetings), we have put in measures to cut costs. Like, for instance, we used to have lunch, but these days we just take packed snacks. They were introduced as measures against Covid-19, but they consequently cut on the cost [of meetings],” Dr Baryomunsi revealed.

Dr Bainomugisha recommends striking a balance between going virtual and holding physical meetings.

“I agree that there is a need to cut public expenditure. Government could at this time be more innovative by using technology to run government efficiently. That is why digitisation becomes important. I think in running government, we need to blend both the digital technology and the physical meetings,” Dr Bainomugisha told Sunday Monitor.