The Minister for Presidency Babirye Milly Babalanda has defended the Shs 2.5 billion earmarked to cater for burial expenses for the deceased Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah saying it fits well in the status of his office.
According to Babalanda who is also the chairperson for the National Organizing Committee (NOC) overseeing Oulanyah’s burial, the issue shouldn’t be the figure but Oulanyah’s status.
“Regarding the budget for burying Rt Hon Oulanyah, what matters is not the figures but the activities involved and the status of the deceased,” Babalanda said in a tweet on Tuesday.
Jacob Oulanyah who was elected Speaker of Parliament in May last year, died on March 20, 2022 in Seattle USA and his body is expected in the country on Friday. In preparation to accord him a befitting send off, the government has since drawn a staggering Shs 2.5 billion budget to cater for the deceased speaker’s funeral expenses, a figure that has triggered mixed reactions from the public.
According to the NOC, the Shs 2.5 billion will cater for expenses including paying funeral service providers, security, logistical expenses among others. Burial day expenditure takes the lion’s share of the budget (Shs1.1 billion), Security (Shs158.5 million), Acholi MPs (Shs312.9 million), Finance committee (Shs247.8 million), and A-Plus funeral Services (Shs226 million).
Oulanyah’s body will arrive into the country from the US on Friday and this will be followed by a week-long series of activities and he will later be buried in his home district of Omoro.
Oulanyah is the first Speaker of Parliament to die in office and the country together with its legal regime is experiencing the incident for the first time. According to the Parliamentary Pensions Act, Oulanyah deserves a state funeral with full honors befitting his status, and the government must declare a period for national mourning.
Part D(2) of the law however limits funeral expenses for a speaker at only 30 per cent of the gross annual salary, and an official statement made in the media about the death of the Speaker.
Before Oulanyah’s death, the government was on spot for close to Shs 2 billion spent on his evacuation to US with a section of Ugandans in the diaspora protesting the move on account that the evacuation was a consequence of neglect for the country’s healthcare system.
In a tweet, Milly Babalanda urged the public who are ranting over the figures in the budget to avoid “traumatising” Oulanyah’s family members in this trying time.
