The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development once again slashed the 1.8 billion shillings budget to 1.2 billion, an amount it had earlier estimated to be enough for the burial arrangements of the late speaker Jacob Oulanyah.
Previously a 2.5 billion shillings budget was publicized in an exposé done by Daily Monitor, a local daily. This sparked an uproar among the Ugandans who took to social media to express their discontent.
Fatboy Show presenters Olive Najjuma and James Onen aka Fatboy were also curious to understand why the budget was shared before thorough revision of the various allocations.
“This begs the question of why was it at 2.5 billion shillings to begin with? What have they cut out? Who was going to take all this money? Have service providers like A-Plus reduced their fees?” Olive wondered.
Olive further stated that the State Ministry of Finance and Economic Development had given the burial committee a budgetary limit of 1.2 billion shillings but the committee came up with a sum of 2.5 billion shillings.
James Onen, the Fatboy Show co-host applauded the Daily Monitor, a local news media that first ran an “exposé” story revealing that the 2.5 billion shillings budget sparked off the outrage on social media which might have contributed to the pressure that led to the chopping of the initial 2.5 billion budget nearly by 50 percent.
“This newspaper saved us 1.3 billion shillings, that's what good journalism is all about, so kudos to them,” he said.
Oulanyah’s body arrived at Entebbe International Airport on Friday April 1, 2022. It will lie in Parliament today for tribute, from where it will be taken to Kololo Independence grounds and later to Larogi in Omoro District where burial will take place on April 8, 2022.
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.