KAMPALA — President Museveni has agreed with the proposal to create constituency COVID-19 task forces across the country for MPs to channel their support to their voters.
During a meeting which observers say is aimed at mending fences with Parliament following the fallout over the Shs10 billion allocation, the President said that he understands that MPs are under pressure from different sections of the population affected by the lockdown over coronavirus.
“Meeting with a select committee of Members of NRM Parliamentary caucus at State House Entebbe. We agreed on a proposal to form a constituency COVID-19 task force across the country for MPs to channel their support to their constituents. This is to avert pressure from individual leaders,” Mr Museveni posted on his social media pages on Tuesday, May 5, 2020.
“I totally agree that during this crisis, certain leaders have been under pressure from the people to provide all kinds of help. Now we need to institutionalize this help,” he added.
The meeting was attended by, among others, NRM Chief Whip Ruth Nankabirwa, her deputy Solomon Silwany and Budget committee chairman Amos Lugoloobi.
However, the President said that the proposal must be endorsed by the bigger NRM Parliamentary Caucus.
The resolution marks a change in attitude by the Head of State towards the MPs. Last week, he criticized the decision to allocate themselves Shs10b of the supplementary budget allocated towards fighting coronavirus.
Sources close the discussion and privy to the workings between the head of state and Parliament told this website that the meeting was intended to avoid future confrontation between the Executive and Legislature.
Sources added that many legislators who subscribe to the ruling party had vowed to frustrate government bills and other policies in Parliament following the President’s criticism.
The President, sources added, is aware that further differences between him and and Parliament would have an impact on his re-election plans come 2021.
