PAFO seeks $1m campaign fund
May 24, 2004
THE Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) has said it is soliciting for US$1m to open up an office and set up structures nationwide.
By Henry Mukasa
THE Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) has said it is soliciting for US$1m to open up an office and set up structures nationwide.
In a telephone interview from Kamuli district, PAFO spokesperson Salaamu Musumba said the pressure group was shopping for money for its operations but it had not sought such assistance from foreign embassies.
The latest edition of The Indian Ocean Newsletter said PAFO had “discreetly†contacted the Egyptian embassy for assistance of US$10,000.
“Our budget is US$1m, but we are not looking for that money from embassies,†Musumba said.
“In embassies we go to explain our stand on constitutional matters and in fact it is them who invite us.â€
The newsletter said PAFO’s legal affairs secretary Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri) met Egypt’s ambassador in Kampala Maasoum Marzouk on May 7, over the issue. It also said the envoy held several meetings with 15 MPs from PAFO.
Marzouk said yesterday on telephone that he had never met any PAFO Members of Parliament over funding, or any other issue.
“It’s a lie. Nobody approached me. I call this kind of journalism immaterial and I hope you don’t go by it,†Marzouk said.
Katuntu denied ever meeting the envoy to discuss PAFO matters. “I only went to thank him for the donation of a computer, scanner and printer that the embassy had made to Busembatya Secondary School in my constituency. This nonsense that I met the envoy to discuss PAFO is a rumour from the Government intended to spoil our relationship with the Egyptians,†he said.
Katuntu also dismissed reports about the meeting between 15 MPs and the ambassador.
Musumba was cagey when asked which kind of sources of funding PAFO was targeting. “We are looking everywhere and from everyone,†she said.
Musumba said PAFO having contact with embassies should not alarm anybody because it was not new according to how modern governments were run.
“The work of the political attache is to sample public opinion, listen from government and opposition,†Musumba said.
She said they had impressed it upon donors in their meetings that PAFO can offer alternative leadership and that the same message will be given to delegates attending the ADB conference at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Musumba urged the President to rise to the stature of a statesman. “We would like President Museveni to rate himself among the best and stop the peasant talk. He has a bigger constituency, Africa, and we would like donors to prevail on our beloved President to become a statesman.â€
She denied that PAFO deployed agents to campaign for Mbale municipality candidate George Masika, although the group wished him victory.
“Let a lawyer be replaced by a lawyer. Mbale should vote someone equal to or better than the late Wapakhabulo,†she said.
Ends
THE Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) has said it is soliciting for US$1m to open up an office and set up structures nationwide.
In a telephone interview from Kamuli district, PAFO spokesperson Salaamu Musumba said the pressure group was shopping for money for its operations but it had not sought such assistance from foreign embassies.
The latest edition of The Indian Ocean Newsletter said PAFO had “discreetly†contacted the Egyptian embassy for assistance of US$10,000.
“Our budget is US$1m, but we are not looking for that money from embassies,†Musumba said.
“In embassies we go to explain our stand on constitutional matters and in fact it is them who invite us.â€
The newsletter said PAFO’s legal affairs secretary Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri) met Egypt’s ambassador in Kampala Maasoum Marzouk on May 7, over the issue. It also said the envoy held several meetings with 15 MPs from PAFO.
Marzouk said yesterday on telephone that he had never met any PAFO Members of Parliament over funding, or any other issue.
“It’s a lie. Nobody approached me. I call this kind of journalism immaterial and I hope you don’t go by it,†Marzouk said.
Katuntu denied ever meeting the envoy to discuss PAFO matters. “I only went to thank him for the donation of a computer, scanner and printer that the embassy had made to Busembatya Secondary School in my constituency. This nonsense that I met the envoy to discuss PAFO is a rumour from the Government intended to spoil our relationship with the Egyptians,†he said.
Katuntu also dismissed reports about the meeting between 15 MPs and the ambassador.
Musumba was cagey when asked which kind of sources of funding PAFO was targeting. “We are looking everywhere and from everyone,†she said.
Musumba said PAFO having contact with embassies should not alarm anybody because it was not new according to how modern governments were run.
“The work of the political attache is to sample public opinion, listen from government and opposition,†Musumba said.
She said they had impressed it upon donors in their meetings that PAFO can offer alternative leadership and that the same message will be given to delegates attending the ADB conference at Speke Resort Munyonyo.
Musumba urged the President to rise to the stature of a statesman. “We would like President Museveni to rate himself among the best and stop the peasant talk. He has a bigger constituency, Africa, and we would like donors to prevail on our beloved President to become a statesman.â€
She denied that PAFO deployed agents to campaign for Mbale municipality candidate George Masika, although the group wished him victory.
“Let a lawyer be replaced by a lawyer. Mbale should vote someone equal to or better than the late Wapakhabulo,†she said.
Ends