Ugandan members of parliament have been awarded a one-off payment of four times their monthly pay to supplement their travel expenses, a move that critics say is aimed at shoring up support before 2016 elections.
Parliament’s deputy spokesperson, Moses Bwalatum, told Reuters on Monday that MPs were given the cash last week to help cover travel costs as fuel prices rise.
Opposition MPs will receive the payout as well as members of President Yoweri Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement, who hold nearly two thirds of the assembly’s 385 seats. Critics say Museveni faces the biggest challenge of his three decades in power in the presidential and parliamentary elections, due in February or March, as former prime minister, Amama Mbabazi, plans to stand.
