Members of Parliament and staff who have parked vehicles longer than necessary at the parliamentary parking lot have been given a 14-day ultimatum to remove them or risk having them towed to the Central Police Station.
The Clerk to Parliament Adolf Mwesige issued the ultimatum in an internal memo dated October 20, 2022. This was in response to a letter written to the Clerk by the Sergeant-At-Arms earlier on October 12, containing a list of vehicles that have been parked for longer periods.
“This is to ask you to send out messages to Hon. Members and Staff to remove the said vehicles within two weeks. The Vehicles which will have remained in the parking lots on the lapse of the two weeks should be towed and parked at the Central Police Station,” the Clerk’s letter read.
According to a senior official at parliament who requested not to be named, some of the staff and Members of Parliament prefer to park and leave their fleet in the precincts of Parliament due to guaranteed security, and as a way of dodging loan sharks and court bailiffs who may impound and auction vehicles of loan defaulters to recover their money.
19 motor vehicles have been sold since June 2022 to date. Four of them are said to be owned by Igara East MP Michael Maranga Mawanda. They include two Land Cruisers; UAZ 826V and UAP 110L, a RAV-4 registration number UAG 786L and a personalized number plate JOZ 2884, all parked on Level 5 of the parking lot. The owner of UAZ 123E (Premio), parked at Level 2 has been identified as Fred Nkasemererwe who works in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition while another; UAE 342P (Pajero) parked on Level 4 belongs to Descartes Kibwota.
However, the owners of 13 other motor vehicles remain unknown. They include; UAH 623F (BMW), UAW 494F (Toyota Premio), UAJ 923E (Toyota Premio), UBB 74OK (Lexus), CD 9813U (Land Cruiser), UBD 5365 (Super Custom), UAR 079K (Land Cruiser Prado), UAV 321E (Golf), UBJ 396P (Harrier), UBK 2O9A (Maiesta), UBG 818G (Land Cruiser Prado), UBE 788W (Nissan Patrol), and UBE 995J (E320).
The 9th Parliament commissioned a 36.4 billion Shillings multi-level parking lot in 2013 to accommodate 505 vehicles. But with a total of 555 lawmakers in the 11th Parliament, and more than 600 members of staff, the parking has become limited to accommodate all members.
