By KT Reporter
Asuman Basalirwa, the President of the Justice Forum (JEEMA), has faulted the Electoral Commission (EC) for distributing government funding to political parties based on their numerical strength in Parliament instead of sharing it equally among all eligible parties during an election year.
Last week, on Thursday, the EC disbursed 9.8 billion Shillings out of a total of 11.2 billion Shillings allocated to political parties under the Political Parties and Organisations Act. The money was distributed to six political parties that have so far signed the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) Memorandum of Understanding.
In the distribution, the National Resistance Movement (NRM), which has 342 Members of Parliament, received 8.5 billion Shillings, while the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), with 30 MPs, got 756.7 million Shillings. The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), with 11 MPs, received 277.4 million Shillings, the Democratic Party (DP), with nine MPs, got 227 million Shillings, while JEEMA and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) each received 25.2 million Shillings.
The National Unity Platform (NUP), which has 57 MPs and would have been entitled to about 1.4 billion Shillings, did not receive any funds because it declined to sign the IPOD MoU. This follows amendments made earlier this year to the Political Parties and Organisations Act, which now provide that any party that is not a member of IPOD shall not receive government funding.
Reacting to the release, Basalirwa said the law under Section 14(a) Clause (b) clearly stipulates that in an election year, all political parties are supposed to share the funds equally, not based on numerical strength.
Basalirwa said he had also raised the issue during the recent IPOD Summit held at Kololo, which was attended by all party presidents and chaired by President Yoweri Museveni of the NRM. He explained that when he raised the concern, President Museveni told him that Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka had advised that the money should be shared according to the numerical strength of parties in Parliament. However, Museveni reportedly expressed willingness to consider equal sharing in the future, especially during election years.
Basalirwa said he intends to formally write to the Electoral Commission in the coming days to express his disagreement with the current arrangement. When contacted for a response, Julius Mucunguzi, the spokesperson of the Electoral Commission, said the Commission was merely implementing an already agreed-upon position.
“Basalirwa knows that this decision was made by an IPOD meeting and therefore, it wasn’t up to the Electoral Commission. If he has any issues with how the money was distributed, let him go to court,” Mucunguzi said.
Meanwhile, the National Unity Platform (NUP) has already petitioned the High Court, seeking to overturn the decision that excluded it from accessing political party funding. NUP argues that there are no clear guidelines on how the EC is supposed to distribute the funds under the amended law, and that the current approach is unfair and discriminatory.
The controversy has reignited debate over the fairness of political financing in Uganda, with critics arguing that basing allocations on parliamentary strength consolidates the dominance of ruling and established parties, undermining smaller parties ahead of the 2026 general elections.
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