President Yoweri Museveni has directed a ban on government workers traveling abroad in the interest of saving money for priorities.
The President made the call while officiating at the commissioning of facilities at Uganda Petroleum Institute-Kigumba (UPIK) in Kiryandongo District over the weekend.
Under the facility, Uganda will train local experts in oil exploration ahead of the oil project that kicks off in 2025.
The President attacked the Ministry of Finance for abandoning important projects like oil and gas at the expense of unnecessary trips abroad for government officials.
It all started when the Principal at UPIK, Bernard Ongodia informed the president that the World Bank funded them with $15.5m (Shs56.6b), to construct five modern workshops, and multipurpose buildings among others.
He however pointed out that the facility was still lacking funds to put in place a proper fence, police post, and an ICT fiber network.
This angered the Head of State who tasked the Ministry of finance officials to ban both internal allowances and trips abroad with immediate effect.
"Tell the civil servants and the MPs to stop traveling abroad. Money being wasted in external travel and yet Kigumba is crying for money," he said
