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From: gook makanga
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Sent: Saturday, September 27, 2003 11:57 PM
Subject: Natasha's Shs 180m jet baby sparks off uproar
Natasha's Shs 180m jet baby sparks off uproar
Special Report --- By Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda & Nabusayi L. Wamboka
September 28, 2003
President Yoweri Museveni's eldest daughter Natasha Kainembabazi Karugire is at the centre of a public controversy after she flew the presidential jet to Germany in August to give birth to her second child. Sunday Monitor's Ssemujju Ibrahim Nganda & Nabusayi L. Wamboka put the $90,000 (Shs 180 million) trip into perspective: -
Barely two months since Parliament asked the first family to drop their "luxurious life" which costs the tax payer huge sums of money, it has emerged that one of the first daughters flew the presidential jet to Europe to give birth.
The Presidential Press Secretary Ms Maria Karooro Okurut confirmed when Sunday Monitor rang her on September 25, that indeed President Yoweri Museveni's daughter Natasha Kainembabazi Karugire flew to Germany on August 19, using the presidential jet GulfStream IV-SP to deliver her second child.
"It is true the jet went with the mum," said Karooro.
The daughter and her entourage returned on August 29 aboard British Airways with the baby.
Ms Natasha Kainembabazi Karugire speaks to the press in this 1998 file photo. Natasha's Germany flight to deliver using the presidential jet has sparked questions about the country's priorities (File photo).
Samia Bugwe North MP Aggrey Awori with fair aviation knowledge told Sunday Monitor on September 25, that it costs $5,000 (Shs 10 million) for every hour the jet is in the air.
The standard flight hours to any European destination from Entebbe Airport is eight hours. The Gulf Stream takes fewer hours by its technology. The jet spent between 12 to
18 hours in the air the day it flew Natasha.
The cost of flying it for 18 hours to Germany and back to Entebbe therefore would be $90,000, which is Shs 180 million.
The first daughter flew to Germany with her mother Janet Kataha Museveni and sister Patience Kokundeka Rwabwogo.
"This doesn't include expenses like flight crew allowances, air fees, parking fees and accommodation," explains Awori.
Sunday Monitor could not establish how much per diem was spent on the first family for the ten days, on the crew and any contingence as State House comptroller, Mr Richard Muhinda, was not answering his cellphone. Conservative estimates by officials who preferred anonymity put the figure to about $50,000 (Shs 100 million). Ms Karooro Okurut said she had no idea how much was spent.
State House says it is legal
Ms Karooro said the law provides for such a flight. She said that the Presidential Emoluments and Benefits Act provides that each of the four biological or adopted children of the president shall be entitled to one trip abroad per year.
She explained that any trip for education or medical purposes shall not be counted as the mandatory one.
Karooro said that the law states that such trips shall be at the expense of the State.
It further stipulates that when the child travels with either or both parents shall travel first class or by the presidential aircraft.
Natasha had her first child at Kololo Hospital, a private hospital in Kampala.
At least 1,200 deliveries
Normal delivery in Mulago Hospital Complex's private wing costs Shs 150,000. This means that the money spent on Natasha flying to Germany can actually pay for 1,200 mothers that choose to deliver at Mulago's private wing.
According to Mulago deputy director Dr Gideon Kikampikaho, depending on the level of sophistication, patients' charges vary.
Ordinary Very Important People (OVIPs) in a private wing pay up to Shs 200,000 for three days including meals and medication while Very Very Important People (VVIP) pay up to Shs 400,000 for normal deliveries.
However if there are complications and the patient needs to stay in the ward for between 7- 10 days, OVIPs pay between Shs 500,000 - 600,000 while VVIP pay up to one million shillings.
In the ordinary wing the money would facilitate thousands of deliveries. In the general wing, what you need is a pair of Shs 1,000 gloves, Shs 2,500 cotton wool and a polythene sheet of Shs 1,500. This brings the total to Shs 5,000 that an ordinary mother needs for delivery at Mulago.
The $90,000 would therefore give 36,000 mothers an opportunity to have their babies delivered in a hospital.
19,000 mosquito nets
According to the ministry of Health, malaria is a very serious problem in Uganda - as in most of Africa - and currently poses the most significant threat to the health of the population.
Malaria currently accounts for 25-40% of all outpatients' visits at health facilities, 20% of hospital admissions, 9-14% of in-patients deaths.
It also leads to a case-fatality rate of 3-5% (which is an under-estimate), 23.4% of total discounted life years lost, 23% and 11% of deaths among the under fives in high and medium malaria transmission areas respectively.
Malaria is also a major killer of refugees and internally displaced people. Malaria and HIV/Aids are the two top causes of death among women and children in Uganda. Approximately 79,000 Ugandans die of malaria every year.
If the money were to be used to buy mosquito nets, the country would buy up to 19,000 treated mosquito nets at a cost of Shs 9,500 each, according to information from Commercial Marketing Strategies the distributors of Smartnet.
This means that the Germany trip would possibly reduce the figure of death to 60,000. In northern Uganda, mothers and children live in unhealthy conditions and exposed to mosquitoes that cause malaria.
Commercial Marketing Strategies in collaboration with the ministry of Health have subsidised the nets at Shs 4,000.
That means over 45,000 mothers and children in the north and north-east would be safe from malaria.
The money is also enough to buy 36,000 cheap blankets at the rate of Shs 5,000 each for the internally displaced people in a country estimated to have 800,000 displaced people in the northern region.
Alternatively, Shs 180 million would be enough to buy mammogram machines to help detect breast cancer, one of the silent killers of Ugandan mothers. For the last two years, Miss Uganda has been struggling to raise Shs 100 million for a mammogram to be set up in Mulago Hospital to help poor mothers. Neither State House, President's Office nor President Museveni and the First Lady contributed to the project.
The only mammogram machine in Uganda is found at the elite Kololo Hospital.
Did Natasha face any risk?
In travelling with an advanced pregnancy, Natasha was risking her life and that of her baby. Most airlines do not want to have obstetrical emergencies aboard their aircraft. Almost all airlines, therefore, forbid domestic travel beyond thirty-six weeks of pregnancy and international travel beyond thirty-two weeks.
Most airlines will have a medical officer or at least an office that you can call to find out what the aviation rules are. It is best for you or your doctor to call that office and speak to the appropriate person. That person's name needs to be written down, then, along with what they said. You then need documentation in the form of either a letter from your doctor or a copy of your medical records to prove that you do meet the requirements.
The greatest concern when advising pregnant air travellers is the risk of blood clots, known in medical terms as thromboembolic disease or deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
Because of changes in your circulatory system when you are pregnant, you are at much greater risk of developing blood clots in your legs and pelvis. This risk is increased by prolonged sitting in one position, and by dehydration, both of which are part and parcel of air travel. Then, when you get up and move around, the blood clots may tear loose and travel to the lungs. This occurencet, known as a pulmonary embolus, is often fatal.
Keeping the presidential jet, a Gulfstream IV-SP in the air for an hour costs Shs 10 million (File photo).
However, if Natasha had an emergency labour situation, several hospitals could have dealt with it.
Both Uganda's main referral hospital, Mulago, and the city's top private hospital, Kololo - where Natasha had her first baby - are well equipped to handle maternity emergencies at any one time.
According to the deputy director of Mulago Hospital, Dr Gideon Kikampikaho, Mulago is reasonably equipped and staffed to handle various social strata.
"The only issue is that the workload is generally high. However there are also private hospitals in Kampala that can handle all kinds of emergencies," he said.
Kikampikaho said people have varying health-seeking behaviours and it is a matter of individual choice where they want to go.
"Many VIPs deliver here but also many prefer to deliver under circumstances at their level of social standing," he said.
Too expensive for Uganda
Mr Awori said that if it is true that Natasha flew by the presidential jet, "it is regrettable".
He said that health centres in the country, especially at sub county level, are without the basic facilities and the first daughter uses more than $100,000 to fly to Germany.
He said that 75 percent of Ugandans have no access to the basic needs of life.
Awori said that State House spent Shs 1.2 billion on constructing a gymnasium and Shs 28 million on two tennis courts which no family member has ever used.
He said that the country would at least allow Maj. Muhoozi Kainerugaba to continue enjoying its facilities because he is a UPDF officer. Muhoozi has at his disposal at least a luxurious Mercedes Benz, a Nissan Patrol and four other escort vehicles.
The parliamentary committee on presidential and foreign affairs while considering the State House/President's Office 2003/4 budget last month pleaded with the officials to check their "luxurious life".
This followed reports that the First Lady Ms Janet Kataha Museveni had acquired an office block on Malcom X Road in Kololo at Shs 240 million, used Shs 200 million to renovate it and wanted another Shs 200 million to erect a fence around it.
Awori had also told the committee that each of the married Museveni daughters had just acquired a Shs 200 million Mercedes Benz.
"There must be a cut off point at which the taxpayer could finance the president's family," Awori demanded.
There are reports that the daughters also, on top of the Mercedes Benzes, have a Range Rover they use for shopping at Uchumi.
"I see body guards playing with it. It is an amoured vehicle and the vice president does not have one," Awori said.
State House Comptroller, Mr Richard Muhinda, told Parliament in August that strong armoured vehicles like the one Museveni uses, cost Shs 500 million each. It is possible that the daughters are 'playing' with the Shs 500 million or the lesser priced Shs 300 million Range Rover.
The chairperson of the presidential and foreign affairs committee, Ms Salaam Musumba said in an interview on September 25, that her committee did not want to embarrass the family by telling them in the report to check their lives.
"We thought they would receive the message with humility," she said. She said that the daughters have grown up and have their own identities.
"They are saved people and I thought they would behave as such. Aren't they saved?" she asked.
Musumba said that the life of the first family is very expensive to the poor country and pleaded with State House to check itself.
Not even the world's most important man and best guarded politician - the American president - will let his children take a hike in a presidential jet without him.
According to the Cultural Affairs expert at the American Embassy Micheal Gonzales, the American president can only be accompanied by his family - children and wife but the children can not be allowed access Airforce One on their own.
Budget stretched
State House exhausted its Shs 38 billion 2002/3 budget of 12 month in about six months. The budget was passed by Parliament in August and it was over in February. The treasury gave another Shs 10 billion.
There was, "overspending on travel inland, travel abroad, fuel and staff allowances," Minister for the Presidency Kirunda Kivejinja told the Musumba committee in August.
This financial year (2003/4) State House has been given Shs 44 billion and Kivejinja has already sounded a warning bell that it won't be enough.
"However, going by the past experience and given the nature of State House impromptu programmes, this too will be insufficient and there will be need for supplementary funding," Kivejinja wrote in the State House 2003 policy statement.
Well, if one trip by the president's child costs more than Shs 180 million, the money will be exhausted soon.
And mind you, there is another budget for the President Office which is Shs 37 billion.
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
Gook
"You can't separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."- Malcom X
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