Speaker Among lashes out at govt over ‘exaggerated’ Shs56b to conduct LC polls

Speaker of Parliament Anita Among has reprimanded government officials, accusing them of exaggerating the Shs56b budget request to conduct the Local Council elections.

According to Among, such amount is over and above what is required to conduct the elections for the local council leaders whose term of office expired on July 10, 2023.

In her communication during the plenary on Wednesday, Among dismissed as exaggerated the Shs56 billion that was reportedly asked to fund the LC1 elections.

She demanded that the figure is assessed and revised in order to generate more realistic amount.

“The problem we have is exaggerating figures, we can’t give Shs57 billion for that election; that’s a lot of money,” she said.

Ms Among further revealed that voting of LC1 is by lining behind a candidate, which does not require such huge sums of money as requested.

“What we want is a realistic budget and figure for us to allocate money for LC1 elections,” Speaker Among said.

She cautioned Members of Parliament against being dragged into approving unrealistic sums of money.

On July 10th, 2023, the term of office for LC1 and 2 chairpersons expired, which caused panic and mixed reactions among communities.

However, they are still operating as they wait on the resolutions from government on when the elections will be held.

Local Government Minister Raphael Magyezi revealed that the ministry had extended the mandate of Lower Local Councils, a statement that was challenged by a section of legislators and lawyers since there is no legal provision to allow for the extension of their terms.

According to information available, there are 10,595 LC2 Chairperson and 70,626 village chairpersons across the country.