Parliament Gives Ugandan President More Funds

Uganda 's parliament has more than doubled the allocation of funds to the president's office ahead of elections next month, prompting the opposition to accuse him of using state coffers to fund his re-election campaign.

Parliament held an emergency session and swiftly approved a government request for supplementary budget funds of 602 billion shillings for the 2010/11 financial year.

The money includes 95 billion shillings in extra funding for state house, more than double the 80.6 billion shillings allocated to the president's residence, which also doubles as his office, at the start of the fiscal year.

Uganda is due to hold its presidential elections on February 18.

President Yoweri Museveni, in power since 1986, faces a stiff challenge from Kizza Besigye, whose four-party opposition coalition, the Inter-Party Cooperation (IPC), has made deep inroads, especially in rural areas.

Ugandan law allows the president to use all the state facilities that he is ordinarily entitled to as a head of state during campaigns.

Critics and opposition politicians say Museveni exploits this privilege to divert state funds to finance his party, heavily tilting the electoral ground against the opposition.

Spokeswoman for the IPC, Margret Wokuri said: ''Museveni has shamelessly decided to raid the country's treasury to further his own selfish political ambitions while anguished mothers are dying in hospitals due to lack of basic medical care."

The ruling National Resistance Movement's spokesman, Ofwono Opondo, has explained that much of the additional money was to meet costs related to security threats from south Sudan's impending referendum and Somalia.

He rejected the opposition's assertions that Museveni was misusing taxpayers' money.

Reuters/Margaret/Yinka