Uganda’s MPs are bleeding the nation dry, pulling the life support from a country already gasping for air. Pocketing exorbitant payouts some as high as UGX 100 million per MP under the pretense of passing laws that prop up a rotten regime is not just greed; it’s treason against a starving population.
While 41% of Ugandans scrape by on less than $1.90 a day, these so-called leaders feast on public coffers, blind to the misery of citizens surviving on one meal or none. This isn’t governance; it’s a massacre of hope.
The nation is choking under a 6.2% unemployment rate, with youth joblessness soaring to 13%, trapping millions in despair. Inflation, hovering at 3.2% in 2024, troubles at meager wages, while food insecurity grips 46% of households. Rural farmers, who make up 73% of the workforce, face collapsing commodity prices and climate shocks, with no safety net from a government too busy enriching itself.
The closure of USAID programs has gutted communities, leaving thousands jobless not just aid workers but suppliers, contractors, and small businesses now crumbling. This ripple effect is a death sentence for families already on the edge.
Parliament should be laser-focused on these crises: slashing healthcare costs, where maternal mortality still claims 189 women per 100,000 live births; tackling HIV/AIDS, which affects 1.2 million Ugandans; and bridging income inequality. Instead, MPs prioritize their own bloated allowances, ignoring the 42% of children stunted by malnutrition and the 80% of workers trapped in vulnerable jobs with no rights or stability.
“When leaders feast while the people starve, they don’t just betray the nation—they bury it. Uganda deserves warriors, not vultures.”
The National Unity Platform (NUP) stands tall, rejecting this blood money and demanding accountability. The Opposition Caucus, led by Hon. Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, has thrown down the gauntlet: every NUP legislator must publicly swear they didn’t touch the UGX 100 million “bonanza” or face the consequences. Those who betray the party’s fight for justice will be stripped of their tickets, a warning that echoes beyond Parliament to every Ugandan. Silence is complicity, and the NUP refuses to bow.
This is a nation on its knees, but not broken. The system is rotten, and nothing short of a full overhaul will save it. Ugandans are dying—maternal complications, untreated HIV, hungerand income gaps are swallowing entire communities. Parliament’s priorities are a disgrace, and the time for half-measures is over.
A protest vote is the only way to rip Uganda off this deathbed. Kanonye, Kalonde, Kakuume—female warriors are calling you to rise. Your vote is a weapon. Use it to end this nightmare and build a nation that fights for its people, not its parasites.
The writer is Babirye Lilliane, MP Aspirant Entebbe Municipality.