Uganda Members of Parliament (MPs) on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee have questioned the over Ugx 1.119Tn that the Ugandan Electoral Commission is seeking to commence the 2026 general election activities.

The committee, which convened at Parliament, probed the request made by the commission officials on April 2, 2024.

According to Wilfred Niwagaba, the Ndorwa East MP, who is also a committee member, spending over Ugx 18Bn on legal fees for private lawyers and approximately Ugx 500M to hold national prayers for peaceful elections is wasteful and exorbitant.

“Why would you need to spend over Ugx 18Bn on external lawyers when your internal legal department can handle petitions and the like? Why would you need to spend approximately Ugx 500M on a national prayer breakfast for elections? I know this country is prayerful, but we always have a national prayer breakfast day. Can’t we combine that into one? Why would we need new electoral areas? Why do we need new constituencies and new electoral areas? Honestly speaking, is there no way you talk out this government out of this madness?” Niwagaba questioned.

Remigio Achia, the Pian county MP, raised a concern over the cost of elections in Uganda, citing that over Ugx 1.1Tn would have been spared on health and education.

“We need to have a discussion on how we can make elections in this country a little cheaper. I don’t know whether we have a research department within the Electoral Commission to see how we can make elections cheaper in our country. I know that democracy is good when it expands our human rights and our expression of opinions, but when we look at where to find the money, how best can we make it cheaper?” Achia asserted.

Stephen Baka, the MP of Bukooli North, however, disagreed with the others, saying that members shouldn’t push the blame for the bloated electoral areas on the Electoral Commission since most of the decisions taken on the creation of new constituencies are made in Parliament while the EC implements these decisions.

“The problem isn’t the Electoral Commission; the problem is us; we are the ones creating constituencies and electoral areas and now seeking to downsize the rest of government except the political class. So, the problem isn’t the Electoral Commission because these people, by law, are supposed to implement what we have done. So, we have created constituencies even when there shouldn’t be any,” he noted.

“We have created all sorts of offices and even made them elective, and the Electoral Commission has nothing to do except implement them, so the problem is still us. Can we downsize? Yes, we can make elections cheaper, and we can make elections cheaper. Yes, cut the offices down,” Baka added.

On the other hand, Leonard Mulekwah, the Secretary to the Electoral Commission, informed Parliament that the Commission’s 2024/25 national budget is grossly underfunded, having been allocated over Ugx 150.183Bn, despite requesting over Ugx 1.119Tn, thus leaving a funding gap of over Ugx 969.282Bn.