Court rules against application seeking to block MPs money

The Constitutional Court has dismissed an interim application filed by a concerned citizen that had sought to block government from giving Sh150 million to each MP for their personal car purchase.

Justice Richard Buteera has ruled that the petitioner Twaha Sanywa has failed to demonstrate to court how the general public will suffer irreparable damage if the said money is spent on MPs.

In the Judge’s ruling read by Asst. Registrar Rose Mary Bareebe, he also alluded to the fact that in future if the same court finds out that parliament wrongly paid the Sh 64bn to its 427 members, it can easily make an order to recover that money from these legislators.

The ruling comes after Sh100 million was disbursed to each MP who has no pending petition in the Court of Appeal leaving a balance of Sh50 million.

However in his ruling, Justice Buteera says Sanywa’s main petition which is pending hearing by a panel of 5 Constitutional Court judges has merit as the court has a duty to look into how government spends tax payers’ money on MPs.

Written by David Kugonza