Parliament approves UGX12b for Uganda Martyrs Shrine

Parliamentary Budget Committee okayed a request by the Ministry of Finance to inject UGX12b into the completion of the Uganda Martyrs Shrine. (FILE PHOTO)

KAMPALA – The Parliamentary Budget Committee has okayed a request by the Ministry of Finance to inject UGX12b into the completion of the Uganda Martyrs Shrine according to the report on the Supplementary expenditure estimates.

The approved amount if okayed by the August House after adoption of the report amounts to UGXl.17 trillion of which UGX403.6b has already been authorized by Ministry of Finance, within the 3% legal requirement and UGX770.2b which requires prior approval by Parliament.

The request was generated by the Uganda Land Commission that requested for additional funding of UGXl2b to cater for payment of ground rent arrears to Kampala Archdiocese for the land leased to Uganda Police Force of Nsambya to enable the completion of Namugongo Martyrs Shrine in preparation of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) in July 2019.

According to documents tabled before the Committee, Government of Uganda owes the Archdiocese of Kampala UGX17.6b arising out of rent arrears for the continued occupation and utilization of the diocesan land in leasehold at Nsambyo registered in the names of the Uganda Land Commission, commonly known as Nsambya Police Barracks and government has never met its obligation of the agreement since 1982 to date, thereby causing accumulated rent as returned by the chief government valuer in his January 2017 report.

The Committee was further informed that Uganda was chosen to host the Symposium in July 2019 and in preparation for this conference Kampala Archdiocese plans to construct a Priests’ house at Namugongo Martyrs Shrine valued at UGX9b to accommodate the visiting Bishops and in addition, UGX3b is required to furnish the House.

In their recommendation to Parliament, the Committee noted in its report that; “The Committee has noted the urgency of this matter and therefore recommends the House approves this supplementary expenditure of UGX12b out of the UGX17.6b and also urged government to budget for the balance of UGX5.6b in the coming 2019/2020 to clear the outstanding balance.