Risdel Kasasira
7 February 2008
Kampala — MEMBERS of Parliament yesterday directed the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Affairs to give a detailed explanation on Shs1.3 billion spent last year on the Commonwealth Youth Forum.
The directive came after State Ministers for the Youth James Kinobe, and Mwesigwa Rukutana (Labour) failed to explain the expenditure of the money to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Chogm chaired by Kakoba Onyango (NRM, Buikwe North).
"We want you to come back with a detailed explanation on some unclear expenditures contained in this report," Mr Onyango told the two ministers.
The Commonwealth Youth Forum, which took place days before Chogm brought together youth from the former British colonies.
The lacking explanation from the ministers infuriated some MPs who accused the Ministry of inflating figures in the report.
Robert Kashaija (NRM, Youth Western) questioned Shs45 million spent on printing of 15,000 brochures to publicise the conference.
But Mr Kinobe said the quality was good and some were attached to the invitation letters to member states and used for publicity.
Mr Kashaija also told the Ministry that Shs66 million spent on printing of 3,000 T-shirts was "exorbitant" and "I don't believe all this money was spent on T-shirts. It could have been misused."
Another contention was the paying of Northern Uganda Youth MP, Denis Obua Shs15 million as the spokesperson for the conference.
Mr Kinobe said the MP was paid this money in form of allowances and consultancy fee for 10 months.
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