MPs Want Free Cars

By Felix Osike SOME Members of Parliament have demanded for free vehicles from the Government, The New Vision has learnt. There are 299 MPs but the number is expected to rise to 303 after the election of women representatives for Kayunga, Moroto, Kanungu and Kaberemaido. Over 50 MPs met yesterday afternoon at the Members lounge on the third floor of the parliamentary buildings and formed the Vehicle Scheme Task Force. The task force is to lobby the parliamentary commission and finance officials to accept their proposal. The task force is chaired by Workers Representative Dr. Sam Lyomoki and the members are Maj. John Kazoora (vice-chairman), Geoffrey Ekanya (secretary), Emmanuel Dombo (Bunyole), Anifa Kawooya (Sembabule) Aanimu Angupale (Arua) and James Kakooza (Kabula). “We want the Government to buy us the cars and we meet the maintenance cost. But we are still holding consultations with the relevant authorities,” said an MP who attended the meeting. He said, “We want to make a comparative analysis in the region and work with the Parliamentary Commission and the government to determine our emoluments.” Unlike the previous Parliament where MPs obtained cars on loan and paid back part of the cost, some members now want the Government to meet the entire cost. Another MP said, “We want the Government to give us cars like all other government officials. If they insist on loans, it should not be through Central Purchasing Corporation, which handled the previous scheme.” Aggrey Awori (Samia Bugwe north) said the proposed scheme would not work. “The simplest position would be to give us cheques and deduct from the source,” he said. Under the 1997/98-car loan scheme, the Government guaranteed loans to a maximum of sh48m for every member’s vehicle on hire purchase at 12% rate of interest. Government credited each MP with sh18m, which was written off. Repayment of the loan was made by deduction of a maximum of sh1m excluding interest from members’ allowances or ministers salaries and remitted to the then Government Central Purchasing Corporation. A big number of MPs purchased vehicles ranging from Land Rover Discovery, Toyota Prado’s and Land Cruisers, Jiefang trucks, Tata lorries and Isuzu coaches. By the time the Sixth Parliament expired all the MPs had met their commitments. Now the MPs also want to review their pay, which is estimated at sh3.5m per month when Parliament is not on recess. They want to peg their pay on other East African parliaments. They want the mileage allowance raised from sh740 per kilometre to a figure yet to be determined. Their argument is that the mileage allowance does not take account of the price of fuel, which stands at sh1,500 a litre. The MPs also want their subsistence allowance raised from sh80,000 per day to sh160,000. Other demands are on personal security, medical insurance and gratuity. “These are the key issues we would like to put across,” said an MP. Ends