Parliament is not God - Museveni

PARLIAMENT.

A tough-talking President Museveni yesterday failed to shield the 42 top government officials who shared the Shs6b oil handshake from parliamentary scrutiny after MPs from his party caucus warned that he would pay a high political cost should he stand in the way of the inquiry.

The President, who had started the meeting in dismissive mood, had made it clear to NRM MPs that as President it was within his powers to reward a team that he felt had done a good job, our sources in the caucus sitting at State House Entebbe yesterday revealed.

“Parliament is not God….don’t malign the good people,” he reportedly told the MPs, adding: “…you are not the first Parliament… you know I will defend them because I am the one who gave them the money. You are abusing them… I don’t want to hear that anymore,” Mr Museveni reportedly said.

The President reportedly asked MPs to “show respect” to the 42 beneficiaries and also disclosed that for discovering commercial oil deposits in 2006, he took Ugandan scientists to Kololo and rewarded them with $20,000 (Shs72m at current value), adding that the officials who defended the oil tax case in London, withstood “unprecedented temptations and intimidation.”

Leaked correspondences recently tabled by MPs at a press conference at Parliament Building show that the decision to reward 42 government officials with Shs6b was made during a May 17, 2015 meeting between President Museveni and Ms Doris Akol, the Commissioner General Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).

The President also told MPs demanding wide-ranging investigation into what has come to be known as the “oil cash bonanza” that the 42 officials who shared the Shs6b should not be “hanged” even as he admitted that it had been brought to his attention that procedures were flouted in the process of sharing the money.

The President then announced his departure from the meeting, saying he was rushing to address the regional parliament [currently sitting in Kampala]. However, the outspoken Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikubo, backed by Peter Ogwang (Usuk), Micheal Tusiime (Mbarara Municipality), James Kakooza (Kabula) demanded that he listens to their views on the matter before he leaves.
The President warned that Mr Ssekikubo would get high blood pressure for nothing. The outspoken MP, according to sources, refused to budge and instead told Mr Museveni that he should not shield government officials from scrutiny like happened in the infamous Temangalo scandal.

Mr Ssekikubo reportedly informed the President that the 42 government officials raided the treasury without following the appropriate procedures and without parliamentary approval. He also told the President that blocking Parliament from inquiring into the oil cash bonanza, would be a recipe for disaster.
In the same meeting, Mr Ogwang also told the President that the Opposition led by Ndorwa East MP Wilfred Niwagaba had hijacked the cash bonanza motion and that the consequences would be dire because they wanted to politically bury him [Mr Museveni]. At this point, Mr Museveni smiled and reportedly showed the NRM’s thumb up sign.

Mr Tusiime, who last week attempted to move the motion to investigate the oil tax cash bonanza, informed the President that the Shs6b was disguised in the latest supplementary budget request for URA as payment to non-teaching staff and that more deserving officials were left out.

After listening to members’ concerns, Mr Museveni informed the caucus that he had discussed the issue with Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and that she knows how to handle matter.

In a telephone interview yesterday, NRM caucus spokesperson Margaret Muhanga confirmed that Mr Museveni strongly defended his role in the controversial payments but also admitted that procedures were abused. “He [Museveni] thought it [the Shs6b] was right for people who have tussled and saved Shs 2.4 trillion against all odds. That even people wanted to bribe them. They resisted all those temptations. That it was prudent to give them a gift.

Although at a later stage, he was told that it was procedurally wrong in the way they did it, he said that [abuse of procedure] can be forgiven, “Ms Muhanga said.

Uganda banked $700m (Shs2.4 trillion) from the two separate oil cases against British Oil firms Tullow Ltd and Heritage.

Government Chief Whip, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa who tabled the matter in the Caucus yesterday addressed an impromptu press conference at Parliament, where she indicated that the President told the Caucus that the Shs6b payment was not “a bribe” and confirmed the narrative from our sources that the President did not oppose an investigation by Parliament into the process.