When the late president Godfrey Binaisa stated that “Entebbe ewooma”, literally meaning “power is sweet” many could have laughed it off. If you thought it was a joke, State House will spend Shs550m daily in the next financial year starting July Ist, if parliament approves its budget for the 2017/18 financial year.
Shs 13m has been allocated for welfare and entertainment alone. With this kind of budget one is not sure whether State House is planning on holding daily concerts to meet this budget! Most top artistes charge less than Shs2m to perform and with this budget, it can be all festive at State House all year long!
“According to the ministerial policy statement signed by the minister for presidency, Esther Mbayo, State House needs a total of Shs233.228 billion for its different activities in the second year of President Museveni’s latest term of office”, The Observer reported.
A breakdown of the statement indicates that State House will spend Shs552m daily on nine activities of the 36 budgeted-for items. These include; travel and transport, miscellaneous and other expenses, general expenses, communications, maintenance, staff allowances and staff training.
Others are supplies and services, welfare and entertainment, special meals and drinks, classified expenditure, travels inland and travels abroad and vehicle maintenance.