Expensive funerals for VIPs? OK, but use your own money

It is hard to ignore the news of the ridiculously expensive funeral for Jacob Oulanyah, the Speaker of Parliament who succumbed to cancer on March 20 in the United States where he had sought medical treatment.

What we are paying to bury the Speaker is simply outrageous, even though officials at the ministry of Finance slashed the budget from Shs2.4b to Shs1.2b, citing “unnecessary expenditure”. Spending nearly Shs2b on a dead politician, regardless of his contribution to the growth and development of his country, is still preposterously high. It is preposterously high because Uganda is a desperately poor country, with the vast majority of its people earning less than $1,000 (Shs3.5m) a year. 

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It is ridiculously high because Uganda is one of the 46 least developed countries and has been on this unenviable list since 1970. And it is showing no sign that it will leave the list anytime soon. Our country still relies heavily on donors to meet the health and education needs of its people. For example, the US government buys anti-retroviral drugs for 1.4 million Ugandans who are living with HIV, according to its 2021 Report to the Ugandan People. 

On health and education in Uganda, the US spends $1b (Shs3.5 trillion) annually. Even with this generous financial assistance, Uganda still struggles to look after its people. Visit the premises of the Uganda Cancer Institute and you will see emaciated cancer patients who sleep in the open because they do not have proper wards — to say nothing of beds.  Why then would a country with meagre resources spend recklessly and, worryingly, on things from which the general public stands to benefit nothing? The answer to this question is that public funds in Uganda belong to individuals in power, not the public.

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Many politicians may not see anything wrong with the Oulanyah funeral budget, but if we asked MPs to contribute money to Oulanyah’s funeral expenses, few would donate millions. 

And let us assume, for argument’s sake, that each MP can contribute Shs2m. There are 555 MPs, according to information on the website of Parliament. If each MP contributed Shs2m, the total amount would be Shs1.1b — less than Shs1.2b we are paying to bury Oulanyah.

MPs are not the ones who have authorised this reckless spending, but politicians who have approved the funeral budget do not seem to know what it takes to earn millions through hard work.  Government pays politicians well not because they work harder and do much more than everybody else. They are paid well because politics, especially in Africa, is parasitic and predatory.

Few MPs can leave Parliament and still earn many millions. The work they do in Parliament does not require intellectual stamina. Politicians do not have in-demand skills that they can sell in the labour market. Why would they be paid well?

Oulanyah deserves a decent funeral. But the astronomical cost should be borne by MPs, using their own money. 

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There are lots of demands on public funds. As Ugandans discussed the merits and demerits of the expensive funeral, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health said that Uganda has a severe shortage of health care professionals and will not recruit more because it does not have money.

Yet the money spent on Oulanyah’s trip to Seattle — and the sum to be spent on his burial — can pay salaries of nurses at Mulago hospital for years. We do have solutions to our problems, but we have rotten leadership.

Mr Namiti is a journalist and former Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected]  @kazbuk