NRM caucus approves car scheme
Feb 07, 2008
THE NRM caucus has endorsed a proposal for Government to re-introduce a vehicle co-ownership scheme for ministers and civil servants.
By Joyce Namutebi
THE NRM caucus has endorsed a proposal for Government to re-introduce a vehicle co-ownership scheme for ministers and civil servants.
The proposal was presented to the caucus this week by Buyaga MP Barnabas Tinkasiimire.
Tinkasiimire said the scheme was intended to save the Government billions of shillings spent on purchasing, maintaining and fuelling vehicles for civil servants, who are over 40,000.
He observed that although the Public Service Standing Orders limit Government vehicles to official use only, the situation on the ground was different.
“It is common to use Government vehicles to ferry building materials, take children to school, attend private ceremonies and go to drinking places. This, he said, had made the cost of maintaining and fuelling unbearable cars.
Statistics from the Ministry of Finance show that the budget for maintaining and fuelling Government vehicles shot up to sh121b this financial year from about sh92b in 2006/07 and sh47.8b in 2005/06.
Tinkasiimire proposed that the category of officials entitled to Government vehicles be limited to the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice. Others were the Police, army, hospital ambulances and school buses.
He proposed that ministers and other civil servants contribute 50% of the money for buying the vehicles through a bank loan scheme, while the Government pays the rest.
The co-ownership scheme, Tinkasiimire said, should last for five years after which the vehicle is solely owned by the officer in charge.
The Government should undertake to pay the taxes and insurance for the vehicles in addition to providing half of the money for fuel and maintenance monthly.
The caucus asked the MP to work out the modalities of the scheme with the Minister of Public Service, his technical team, the chief mechanical engineer in the Ministry of Works and officials in the Ministry of Finance.
THE NRM caucus has endorsed a proposal for Government to re-introduce a vehicle co-ownership scheme for ministers and civil servants.
The proposal was presented to the caucus this week by Buyaga MP Barnabas Tinkasiimire.
Tinkasiimire said the scheme was intended to save the Government billions of shillings spent on purchasing, maintaining and fuelling vehicles for civil servants, who are over 40,000.
He observed that although the Public Service Standing Orders limit Government vehicles to official use only, the situation on the ground was different.
“It is common to use Government vehicles to ferry building materials, take children to school, attend private ceremonies and go to drinking places. This, he said, had made the cost of maintaining and fuelling unbearable cars.
Statistics from the Ministry of Finance show that the budget for maintaining and fuelling Government vehicles shot up to sh121b this financial year from about sh92b in 2006/07 and sh47.8b in 2005/06.
Tinkasiimire proposed that the category of officials entitled to Government vehicles be limited to the President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament and the Chief Justice. Others were the Police, army, hospital ambulances and school buses.
He proposed that ministers and other civil servants contribute 50% of the money for buying the vehicles through a bank loan scheme, while the Government pays the rest.
The co-ownership scheme, Tinkasiimire said, should last for five years after which the vehicle is solely owned by the officer in charge.
The Government should undertake to pay the taxes and insurance for the vehicles in addition to providing half of the money for fuel and maintenance monthly.
The caucus asked the MP to work out the modalities of the scheme with the Minister of Public Service, his technical team, the chief mechanical engineer in the Ministry of Works and officials in the Ministry of Finance.