The Director, Finance, Mr. Patrick Kunobwa has cautioned Members of Parliament against living outside their means whenever they travel out of the country.
Delivering a presentation during the Internal Induction of MPs on Tuesday Mr. Kunobwa said legislators are given per diem which is enough to sustain them on foreign trips.
“The Parliamentary Commission decided that US$ 520 is enough for a Member of Parliament to afford comfortable accommodation,” he said. “We considered some of the very expensive cities like Tokyo and Geneva and we came up with that as a round figure.”
Kunobwa said that the per diem given to MPs is higher than what is given to government officers because of the status they command. He added that accommodation will be arranged for by the Clerk to the Committee that is travelling for the benchmarking or study visit.
Hon. Rose Mutonyi Masaba (Bubulo West) encouraged MPs to always get in touch with the Ugandan embassies in the countries they are travelling to.
“You will not have to incur a high expense because our embassies usually have recommended hotels and at a good rate,” Mutonyi said.
Hon. Margaret Muhanga (Burahya County) said that MPs could embrace the use of electronic credit and debit cards like Visa and MasterCard.
“There are a number of banks locally which can offer this facility so that whenever you travel, you can swipe and pay for your accommodation and other expenses,” Muhanga said.
Kunobwa, in response to a question, said that to facilitate the Members’ travel, his department ensures that money for a trip is wired to the MP’s account before travel.
The training, which started on Monday 20th June, 2016 is expected to end on Friday 24th June 2016.
