Leader of the Opposition in Parliament Mathias Mpuuga has asked lawmakers under his whip to boycott the State of the Nation Address by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni because the event is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Mpuuga’s call comes just hours ahead of the President’s address to legislators, government officials, and diplomats convened by the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among at the Kololo Independence Grounds in the capital, Kampala on Wednesday.
According to Mpuuga, President Museveni continues to waste public resources on specific companies owned by individuals close to his regime on COVID tests whenever he meets people both at his home and in other parts of the country.
The LOP is concerned that the State of the Nation Address – SONA is expected to attract at least 20,000 people including MPs, heads of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, security officers, and journalists among others who were all subjected to the ‘useless’ tests.
He estimated that the event will cost the Government at least three billion Shillings of taxpayers’ money, yet the Budget Speech Day a week later is expected to cost the taxpayer another three billion Shillings in mandatory Covid-19 tests.
The LOP’s criticism is hinged on the fact that the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared an end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency. He added that subjecting people to such tests is a human rights abuse amid the exorbitant cost of testing for covid-19.
The Shadow Cabinet resolved that subjecting people to the costly Covid-19 tests for the sole purpose of meeting Museveni must stop, and accordingly, directed Members of the Opposition not to take part in the Covid-19 tests and to stay away from the SONA 2023 and the Budget Speech.
In order to save taxpayers money in the wake of the biting economic hard times, the shadow cabinet proposed that Museveni the first family should take Covid-19 booster doses to boost their immunity as recommended by the WHO to lessen their anxiety over the covid-19 threats to their lives.
The Shadow Cabinet also advised the President to increase the social distance he observes while meeting people in the country as recommended by WHO and make the decision to not meet people physically and instead use technology (zoom) as he did during the covid-19 pandemic.
In accordance with Article 101 (1) of the Constitution of Uganda, the Speaker of Parliament is mandated annually to invite the President to address Parliament on the socio-economic and political state of the nation.
