Ex-MPs seek medical insurance as retirement bites

Those who watch MPs swaying paka chini at the annual end-of-year bash might mistake their revelry for invincibility. Yet, their economic life is fragile. For most MPs, it is one misstep at the ballot box and a splattered mess.

Political attrition rates have become alarmingly high over the years with only 43% of incumbent MPs able to bounce back to Parliament.

Those who have endured this anguish can testify. The former presidential press secretary, Onapito Ekomoloit (deceased), captured it best last May during a gathering of former MPs under the Association of Parliamentary Alumni of Uganda.

“I tasted this thing, it is sweet. I loved the title of ‘Honourable,’” he said.

“Those who have read my book, Tears and Trials, I talk about losing the seat, literally crying all day and fleeing the constituency. I had lost in the middle of the night. This is traumatic.

If you are not careful, you can die, and we have lost colleagues. You can go into depression and die,” Onapito added.

For many, the loss of a steady salary marks the end of the world, he said.

Despair sets in, and survival becomes an uphill battle.

A case in point is former Moyo East MP Piro Santos Eruaga, who has struggled in vain to secure compensation for his buses, which he said were destroyed during Joseph Kony’s 20-year Lord’s Resistance Army rebellion.

The proprietor of Lowi Roadway buses, reportedly lost a bus at Pabboo on the Gulu-Adjumani highway in 1994, with two more losses recorded between 1998 and 2001.

“Honourable Piro Santos, captured here, follows my mother. He is my uncle and he lost over four buses and other merchandise during the insurgencies and the war. And that was in the late 1980s where I was in the RC1 [Resistance Council One] as secretary for finance,” West Moyo MP Tom Alero Aza said.

“I would be really grateful if you could fast-track the compensation of this uncle of mine because he has suffered. He was even at one time an MP here. Right now, he is badly off,” he added.

Begging bowl

Now, parliamentary pensioners are pushing for inclusion in the medical insurance scheme to ease the burden of healthcare costs in retirement.

State minister of finance (general duties) Henry Musasizi told MPs during the 13th annual general meeting of the Parliamentary Pension Scheme (PPS) at Parliament this week that he was overwhelmed by telephone calls from former legislators asking for medical bailouts.

“I have also been reminded of the pensioners’ prayer for the commission to consider including them in the medical insurance scheme. Because the medical bills consume the biggest portion of their troubles, for which I also commit to bringing to the attention of the President. I am happy to note that the recent amendments to the law have ensured that active members will have medical cover in retirement,” Musasizi, also the Rubanda East MP, said.

PPS was established by an Act of Parliament in 2007 as a contributory hybrid cash balance retirement plan for MPs and parliamentary staff.

It provides pensions and other benefits to eligible members and financial relief to dependants of deceased participants. Membership dates back to Uganda’s seventh Parliament, including staff on permanent and pensionable terms as of July 1, 2001.

Under the current provisions, members contribute 2% of their basic salary towards a medical insurance cover to support them in retirement.

With MPs earning a monthly salary of sh11.7m, excluding various privileges, each MP contributes sh234,000 per month.

Rising medicare cost

James Kakooza, the former Kabula County MP and state minister for health who now represents Uganda at the East Africa Legislative Assembly, argues that the amount is insufficient given the rising cost of medical treatment.

“When you look at us, all of us are going into the same age bracket. We are almost going into the battlefield of diseases. We could request that you calculate that on the Government side also, if they contribute 2%, for a year. That is about sh2.4m for a member who is a current and alaso non-current. The most serious problem as we retire is that medical bills are costly,” Kakooza said.

“We who are retired are not contributing but the current ones are contributing. It is not a lot of money. If you are talking about 2,000 Members of Parliament who are not in Parliament, you are talking about sh4.8b. Government can pay so that someone can get medical insurance, which can sustain somebody’s life. These are senior citizens who have been contributing to Government and the development of the country,” he added.

Life after Parliament

Former Serere District Woman MP Alice Alaso Asianut, serving in the eighth, ninth, and tenth parliaments, said the irony is that many MPs start planning for life outside Parliament when the final results are announced.

“From experience, I want to tell you colleagues, you will never know that you are about to exit that House until the returning officer says you have exited, and then, your whole world turns around.

“You may be lucky, you have been there many years, so now you know these things. But just in case, you have been there for one term or two, I think that we need to emphasise to you the importance of knowing the processes about your money,” she cautioned.

Alaso noted that with mid-term access to funds and readily available loans, one can easily borrow money, believing they will remain in office only for the returning officer to show one the exit.

She noted that the scheme is designed to ensure financial stability even after leaving Parliament.

“You know why I am smiling? As I was walking in here, somebody said: ‘Alaso, you are looking very good’.

I am saying this because I want to connect two things. I am looking very great on a pension of sh2.29m per month. I don’t have any extra income.

What happened? I got a third, I did not even consult, I just blew up that one. I don’t know where it went.

“If you are here, please go to that office, hear a few more things before you pick that money. In fact, don’t even pick it until the district returning officer has declared you either a winner or loser. Then, you will figure out what to do with it,” Alaso added.

We are badly off

Margret Kiboijana, the former Ibanda district Woman MP in the eighth and ninth parliaments, buttressed this further, saying the medical stipend can only bail out someone not to die today but tomorrow.

“I want to assure you, some of our colleagues are badly off and yet as we age, we get more of these ailments that disable us,” Kiboijana said.

“Personally, I was touched when Honourable Besisira passed on. He passed on in India, he could have had so many challenges. Okay, Government came in to give him an official burial, but imagine… Suppose that money had been given out, wouldn’t it have saved his life? Would you prefer to be sent off in these maybe gold coffins, other than saving a life?” Ignatius Besisira, the former lawmaker for Buyaga county, died on January 12 and was buried in his ancestral home in Kagadi with full state honours.

President’s take

The concern formed the crux of the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 2022.

Although President Yoweri Museveni initially declined to assent to the Bill, he later signed it into law after key sticking points were addressed on February 8, 2023.

Museveni had previously noted that while the Bill initially presented for financial assessment did not propose increasing the Government’s contribution to the pension fund from 30% to 40%, the final version passed by Parliament included this provision.

The private member’s Bill, sponsored by Workers’ MP Arinaitwe Rwakajara of the ruling National Resistance Movement, also sought to establish a postretirement medical fund. Under this arrangement, MPs would voluntarily contribute monthly deposits to secure medical care in retirement.

This proposal aimed to replace the existing requirement where pensioners must seek approval from the Uganda Medical Board before using a portion of their benefits for medical treatment.

Instead, it allowed recommendations from specialist medical practitioners approved by either the Board or the Parliamentary Commission Medical Board.

Solomon Kirunda, the secretary to the PPS board, said: “In exercise of his power under Article 91 of the Constitution, His Excellency the President returned that Bill and did not assent to it on good legal grounds by the way.

“Article 93 of the Constitution prohibits a charge imposition on the consolidated fund otherwise than by the Executive. On that ground, the proposed intervention by Government failed.”

Kirunda added: “As a board now, we are discussing, and maybe there is need to engage him (Museveni) so that the Executive brings that amendment Bill.”