The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi, Minister of State for Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, and a section of opposition MPs have appended their signatures to the motion seeking to censure parliamentary commissioners.
Last week, a section of legislators led by Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo and Sarah Opendi embarked on collecting signatures to censure Parliamentary Commissioners. The commissioners are accused of allocating themselves Shs1.7 billion.
The Parliamentary Commission’s leaked resolutions from May 2022 implicated the former Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Mathias Mpuuga, commissioner Solomon Silwany, Prossy Akampurira, and Esther Afoyochan.
According to the leaked document, Mpuuga was awarded a one-off service payment of Shs500 million, while three commissioners from the National Resistance Movement each received Shs400 million. the National Unity Platform (NUP), resolved to recall Mpuuga as the Parliamentary Commissioner.
The party said that although he responded to the NEC’s request to show cause why he should not be recalled from the Parliamentary Commission, he did not provide any satisfactory explanation for engaging in this grave action, which goes against the mission, values, and objectives of the party. In particular, he did not make any attempt to respond to the specific accusations levelled against him.
“This is very imperative for us in the NUP, it vindicates us. We raise alarms against our commissioner; some people think it is an internal party fight. What happened is an irregularity for leaders to sit and award themselves money.”
He said the proposal has to go through the legal and parliamentary affairs committee before it is brought to the floor of parliament for discussion. Every individual who gets retirement benefits, be it the speaker, vice president, or others, was discussed and passed by parliament.
He noted that on matters to do with taxpayers’ money, MPs need to detach their parties and make the right decisions.
Namuganza urges other party members to sign the censure motion and warns individuals who are telling their colleagues that the president said they should not sign.
She noted that the president has formal ways of communicating, which include writing to them and calling the NRM caucus.
“Let’s stand against corruption. I was personally censured even when there were no grounds,” she said.
