Legislators\nhave warned government to resist the temptation of using the plight of Ugandan\nstudents quarantined in Wuhan, China over Corona Virus, to defraud tax payers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nconcern was raised by Ayivu County MP, Bernard Atiku, who claimed that the\nMinistry of Finance had sent up to $600,000 to Uganda\u2019s Embassy over and above\nthe approved $61,000 meant for the Ugandan students stranded in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Atiku\nurged the August House to interest itself in reports from students in Wuhan\nthat not all of them have been given money. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cStudents\nare saying that not all have received the money and even the US$618 being given\nout to each student cannot match the rising costs of living in Wuhan,\u201d said\nAtiku during the plenary sitting on Wednesday 11 March 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nState Minister for Finance (Planning), Hon. David Bahati, explained that no\nmoney will be lost due to the error, as the Ministry had already asked the\nUgandan Embassy in China to return what is above the approved US$61,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\nwas just miscordinaton on our part, the original request was for US$600,000 but\nCabinet approved only $61,000. No money will be lost, and every student is\ngetting what they are supposed to get,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bahati\u2019s\nargument did not seem to convince legislators who said it was becoming a\ntradition for Ministry of Finance to disburse excess funds, with the excess\nending up misappropriated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis\ncannot just be negligence, it is a common occurrence in the Ministry [of\nFinance]; the Accounting Officer is often asked to remit back money but this\nmoney never goes back to the Treasury,\u201d said Hon Reagan Okumu (DFC, Aswa).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Relatedly\nthe State Minister for Health (Primary Health Care), Joyce Moriku Kaducu\nconfirmed that one case of Corona Virus has been confirmed in Democratic\nRepublic of Congo. She however said that the Ministry would use the same\nmeasures used during the Ebola outbreak in the Congo to contain Corona Virus at\nUganda\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Legislators have warned government to resist the temptation of using the plight of Ugandan students quarantined in Wuhan, China over Corona Virus, to defraud tax payers. The concern was raised by Ayivu County MP, Bernard Atiku, who claimed that the Ministry of Finance had sent up to $600,000 to Uganda\u2019s Embassy over and above the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":9868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[31],"class_list":["post-14507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-featured"],"yoast_head":"\n