UGANDA, Kampala | Real Muloodi News | The Speaker of Parliament, Hon Anita Annet Among, has disclosed that plans are underway for parliament to acquire its structure to provide office space for Members of Parliament.
By acquiring its own office space, parliament is hoping to save on its excessive expenditure on office rent which is being given to some city landlords, including Sudhir Ruparelia, who is letting out Queens Chambers and Kampala Kingdom building to 323 MPs as their temporary offices.
While she was addressing the house, Hon Among reasoned that this undertaking which is yet to be cleared by the Attorney General will save parliament from high rent costs, which it is currently incurring.
“We has a meeting with the president and the meeting resolved that we should have a stop center where all Members of Parliament should be accommodated as Office of Members of Parliament. Now the only issue we need to get is a clearance as to where that should happen,” she explained.
“Yesterday I got a motion from Hon Kahunde Hellen where she is urging the Government instead of spending money on rent to ensure that we have our own premises as government,” she added.
Hon Among further added that MPs are currently “scattered everywhere in town” to an extent that she does not even know where their offices are situated.
Her comments were followed by concerns raised by Bukhooli Central Legislator, Hon Solomon Silwany, who pointed out the billions of shillings the parliament is spending on rent at Sudhir’s Kingdom Kampala building.
“I want to inform you that in Kingdom Kampala alone we are spending 8 billion shillings on renting. Honourable members renting Queens Chambers, we are spending about 3.9 billion annually. All this money is going on rented premises,” Silwany revealed.
Both Kingdom Kampala and Queens Chambers which are located along Parliamentary Avenue are owned by city landlord Sudhir Ruparelia.
The Member of Parliament also added that the MPs whose offices are situated on rented premises, constantly face the danger of being knocked down by speeding motorists.
In July 2021, some concerned citizens petitioned the Inspectorate of Government and the Public Procurement and Disposal Authority (PPDA) to investigate the rent deal that parliament had entered into with Sudhir Ruparelia.
The parliament of Uganda secured office space at Sudhir’s Kingdom Kampala for 323 Members of Parliament, and the two-year deal would cost USh18 billion.
By last year, it was reported that the new parliamentary chambers are under construction by ROKO Construction Limited.
Upon completion of the parliamentary chambers, the project would accommodate 600 MPs. Factors associated with the COVID-19 epidemic delayed the presumed 2021 completion.
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