Eight opposition MPs in Uganda have so far returned the $8,000 (£6,000) each of them were given by parliament for consultations with their constituents on the controversial presidential age-limit bill.
The opposition has denounced the one-off payment as a “bribe” because MPs already get money to visit their constituencies, reports the BBC’s Patience Atuhaire from the capital, Kampala.
The payment is seen as an attempt to gain the support of MPs for the bill, which seeks to remove the requirement that a presidential candidate be below the age of 75.
The opposition believes that the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) wants to push through the bill so that President Yoweri Museveni, 73, can run for a sixth term in 2021.
Uganda’s state-linked New Vision newspaper reports that the eight MPs returned the money because they believe it was meant to “compromise” them.
Parliamentary officials announced that about $3.5m had been set aside for 445 legislators to facilitate consultations on the bill.
Each MP would get about $8,000 for use in their constituency in the next 15 days.
