Parliament has tasked the government to explain the criteria used by granting the National Resistance Movement –NRM a lion’s share while disbursing 15 billion meant for Political parties.
Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has summoned the Attorney General and Ministry of Justice to explain to August house how they applied the law in the unbalanced distribution of the law.
Section 14b of the Political parties and organizations act, in respect of elections, says the government finances political organizations and parties on an equal basis.
However, in respect of the normal day-to-day activities section, 14b of the act indicates that funding shall be based on the numerical strength of each political party or organization in Parliament.
NRM party has the highest representation in parliament with over 309 members, FDC 37, Democratic Party -15, UPC -7Jeema -1.
The monies were shared according to numbers with representation in Parliament to facilitate political activities for 2 quarters.
However, out of the 15 billion, 12 billion Shillings has been allocated to the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) – 1.5 billion Shillings, Democratic Party (DP) – 650 million Shillings, Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) -350 million Shillings and Justice Forum (JEEMA) – 41 million Shillings.
But Asuman Basalirwa, the sole representative of the Justice Forum in Parliament and the Interparty Organization for Dialogue (IPOD) chairman disagrees with the mode of distribution saying it should have been equally shared.
Basalirwa who says the law favors equal distribution of funds has now threatened to drag to court the government for directing the electoral commission to unjustly partition the funds.
