Members of Acholi sub-region have offered to refund Shs 1.7 billion of taxpayers' money to the consolidated fund so they get Ugandans off the back of speaker of parliament Jacob Oulanyah.
Last week, parliament spent a whooping $500,000 to charter a 252-seater Uganda Airlines Airbus to fly Oulanyah and a few of his family members and caretakers to Seattle, US for specialized treatment. The move that drew angry reactions from a section of Ugandans - at the amount spent on a single individual as well as the persistent neglect and under funding of the country's healthcare sector which serves the majority of poor Ugandans who can't be flown out of the treatment like the government officials, moreover at the taxpayers' expense.
Now, lawmakers hailing from Acholi sub-region in northern Uganda (Acholi Parliamentary Group) on Thursday offered to refund the money after Ugandans in the diaspora took to the streets in Seattle to demonstrate against Oulanyah's hospital admission. The protestors believed to be allied to the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party held placards with wordings: “Officials from Museveni government are not welcome in Seattle.”
“Join our colleagues in Seattle in a peaceful protest against the Uganda dictatorship flying one of their corrupt and brutal officials for medical treatment in the US, while the regime has rundown hospitals in Uganda,” a post on UK Official People Power – NUP Facebook page read.
The protesters congregated at Seattle Cancer Care Alliance for the demonstration that started on February 7 chanting, “Jacob Oulanyah, not in Seattle’s backyard,” ridiculing the government for spending Shs 1.7 billion taxpayers’ money on a single individual.
Acholi Parliamentary Group chairperson, Anthony Akol questioned the motive of the demonstration yet several Ugandan dignitaries have been in the past flown abroad and many still continue to be referred overseas for treatment by the Uganda Medical Board. Akol accused the NUP leadership in Kamwokya, Kampala of fueling the protests because they have not officially denounced the unpatriotic deeds of their diaspora supporters.
"In a situation where our speaker was taken for treatment and then NUP organizes people to demonstrate that he should not be treated, this is not the first Ugandan to be taken out of the country. Even as we talk now, there are Ugandans who have been approved by the medical council for treatment and this has been happening for many years. It is a humiliation to the speaker when many Ugandans have been taken for treatment. As a chairman of Acholi Parliamentary Group, I'm not happy and I'm demanding for apology from the Leader of Opposition. I'm not happy, I'm disappointed," said Akol.
Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, the Bardege-Layibi MP in Gulu city described the protest as a barbaric attack on the health and life of the right thinking Ugandans rather than an attack on individual citizens.
"We're very concerned with the manner in which some people have responded to the matter of our brother honourable Jacob Oulanyah being taken for specialized treatment in the US. We want to condemn the section of Ugandans who think our brother should not get treatment. This is an attack not only on him as an individual, it is an attack on all of us. Honourable Jacob Oulanyah is not the first Ugandan to travel abroad for specialized treatment and so why should he be targeted as an individual?" said Mapenduzi.
Lucy Akello (Amuru District Woman MP) however asserts that they will only refund the money if other previous government dignitaries who were flown abroad to seek specialized treatment are also compelled to refund the money that was spent on them.
