A Ugandan court has suspended the allocation of 10 billion Ugandan shillings ($2.6m; £2.1m) to members of parliament to fight the spread of coronavirus in their constituencies, the Daily Monitor newspaper reports.
Each MP was due to receive about $5,300 to, among other things, fuel ambulances and pay allowances for the drivers involved in the Covid-19 taskforces at district level, the newspaper reports quoting sources in parliament.
The proposal sparked a public outcry and an online petition. The petition said the money should go to the Covid-19 Task Force instead of MPs. It said that many of the MPs were not in their constituencies because of lock down.
Two opposition MPs on Tuesday succeeded in getting a court order suspending the allocation.
The Daily Monitor has tweeted about the development:
JUST IN: The Civil Division of the High Court has stayed the release of the Sh10b to MPs until the hearing of the application challenging such on April 29. The suit was filed by Ntugamo MP Gerald Karuhanga and Erute North County MP Jonathan Odur#MonitorUpdates via @zziwaherbert pic.twitter.com/jb1MGCC8r1
— Daily Monitor (@DailyMonitor) April 21, 2020