In Uganda’s 2025/2026 national budget, something deeply unfair has caught the attention of concerned citizens. The offices of the Speaker of Parliament and her Deputy have been given Ugx 19 billion and Ugx 14.4 billion respectively more than most of the country’s regional referral hospitals that serve millions of ordinary Ugandans.
This shocking difference in funding raises a big question: Why is politics getting more money than health care in a country where hospitals lack beds, drugs, and doctors?
Let’s break it down. Soroti Regional Referral Hospital is set to receive only Ugx 11 billion. Yumbe Hospital gets Ugx 13 billion, Kabale and Moroto hospitals get around Ugx 13 and 12 billion each, and Masaka Hospital, which serves a huge population, gets Ugx 15 billion. Yet the Speaker’s office alone receives a staggering Ugx 19 billion, and her Deputy’s office follows closely with Ugx 14.4 billion—far more than these vital health facilities.
This shows a painful truth: in Uganda today, political offices are being valued more than patients.
Hospitals in Uganda are struggling. Many face power shortages, broken equipment, and a shortage of medicine. Some patients even have to sleep on the floor because there are not enough beds. Mothers give birth without proper care, and accident victims wait hours without treatment. These are not just numbers they are real people, real lives, and real suffering.
Meanwhile, the offices of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker where few people are served compared to hospitals are given huge sums of money. What is this money used for? Expensive cars, office furniture, luxurious travel, and administrative comforts while people in hospitals are dying from lack of basic care.
This is not just unfair it is a national injustice.
When leaders choose to fund political comfort over public health, they send a clear message: the lives of ordinary Ugandans are not a priority. This kind of budgeting is dangerous, and it exposes the ugly side of leadership that is out of touch with the real needs of its people.
Ugandans deserve better. The sick should not be ignored so that politicians can ride in luxury. It is time to ask hard questions and demand accountability. If Uganda can afford billions for political offices, surely it can afford life-saving investments in our hospitals.
A healthy country begins with a strong health system not with oversized political offices. The government must do the right thing: cut down wasteful political spending and increase funding for health care.
Until that happens, every Ugandan must raise their voice, ask questions, and demand change—because good health should never come second to politics.
