Ugandan president urges foreign travel ban for officials

By Hamza Kyeyune

Kampala, Uganda (AA) - Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has urged members of parliament and civil servants to stop overseas travel to trim wasteful expenditure and save money for other priority sectors.

The austerity measure was announced after the president learned that the Uganda Petroleum Institute-Kigumba (UPIK), the only government-owned institute for training in the oil and gas sector with international accreditation, does not have enough funding to become a fully-fledged institute.

He described the institute as one of the lucrative projects that is bound to generate billions of dollars for the country in years to come, adding that investment in such an institution is critical.

"Even if we're to spend $100 million to make the institute the best, we shall do it. Some of them just want money to travel abroad. We constrain that. Tell the civil servants, the MPs and all politicians to stop traveling abroad. Allowance inside Uganda, we can freeze all those. Money is wasted on external travel and here Kigumba is crying for money. This is really poor planning,” the president said.

Museveni, who praised the World Bank for its assistance in raising the institution's facilities and standards, could not help but accuse government planners of failing to give Kigumba's financing a priority.

He added that he was informed that the oil companies are going to invest $15 billion in Uganda and out of that, 40% will remain in the country.

“So how can you say that you lack $2 million, in order to earn $7 billion from the oil sector. It is not lack of money, but lack of planning,” he said, adding that his government is going to find all the funds needed to make UPIK a fully-fledged institute ahead of oil exploration. Uganda is expected to begin commercial oil exploration by 2025.

Finance Minister Matia Kasaija said the president asked the ministry to prioritize, adding that all foreign travel could not be banned as some visits are extremely are important for the development of the economy.