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MPs move to impeach Mpuuga, three commissioners over Shs1.7b service award
The commissioners accused of sharing Shs1.7b (L-R): Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo – Mukungwe MP), Prossy Mbabazi Akampurira (Rubanda Woman MP), Esther Afoyochan (Zombo Woman MP) and Solomon Silwanyi (Bukooli Central MP). PHOTOS/ FILE/ COURTESY
What you need to know:
- Speaker Anita Among is said to have chaired the meeting in which the commissioners allocated themselves the said service award.
- NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu announced that the party's top organ had resolved to recall Mr Mpuuga from his current position as a Commissioner.
- Speaker Among said NUP has no powers to recall a serving commissioner under the current laws.
At least five Members of Parliament have launched a motion to impeach the four commissioners of Parliament who allegedly shared Shs1.7 billion taxpayers’ money as 'service awards’.
The four commissioners targeted in the censure motion are; Mathias Mpuuga (MP Nyendo - Mukungwe), Esther Afoyochan (Zombo Woman MP), Solomon Silwanyi (Bukooli Central MP) and Prossy Mbabazi Akampurira (Rubanda Woman MP).
According to the champions of the motion; Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu West), Sarah Opendi (Tororo Woman MP), Patrick Nsamba Oshabe (Kassanda North) and Yorke Alioni Odria (Aringa South) the said commissioners have been given enough time to resign by themselves in vain, hence the decision to mobilize the fellow legislators to have them out of office through a censure motion.
“On several occasions, I was asking the speaker to give us an in-house talk about commissioners and she was promising but doing nothing, because these became gluttons, enjoying food and money for nothing,” Mr Ssewungu said.
“We want these commissioners out of the office and then we shall follow the money and we have all facts. We shall use all the possible ways to get these people out of office,” he added.
In addition, Mr Odria said “we are not going to promote acts of corruption in this Parliament of Uganda. We have advised the four commissioners to resign [but] up to today they have refused to resign. We are now taking action. It is time that MPs must be seen to take action.”
The legislators further argued that the impeachment of the four commissioners would restore the waning public trust in the institution of Parliament.
“We are cognizant the removal of those aforementioned commission members will restore the dignity of Parliament and also maintain and strengthen the public trust and confidence in the integrity of the institution of Parliament,” Mr Ssekikubo said.
Adding that; “this is the time to say no to the diversion of public funds for personal aggrandizement and I call upon all Members of Parliament to support this motion but commissioners can also choose to resign before this motion comes for them.”
The four commissioners came into the public spotlight at the start of this year following reports that they sat and shared Shs1.7 billion as a service award. According to the reports, the former Leader of the Opposition, Mr Mpuuga received Shs500 million while the other three commissioners from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) received Shs400 million each.
Ms Opendi who is one of those seconding the censure motion urged the general public to follow and ensure that their legislators rally behind this “matter of public interest.”
“It will be wrong for me to sit and keep quiet when a whole health centre is allocated to one individual. For the record, the Ministry of Health using the UPDF Construction brigade was upgrading Health Centre II’s to Health Centre IIIs at a cost of Shs500m. We cannot afford to sit back when taxpayers are struggling to pay taxes and the taxes from our voters are misappropriated,” she said.
In a rejoinder, Mr Nsamba emphasized that “I feel bad every time I see these gentlemen and ladies masquerading as commissioners of Parliament when there is darkness around them. For instance, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, NUP told you the service award is immoral, but you continue masquerading as commissioner. I am so happy that now we are going to move together. It is no longer a matter of NUP but all MPs.”
Earlier this year, the president of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party, Mr Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu announced that the party's top organ had resolved to recall Mr Mpuuga from his current position as a Commissioner. However, this was rejected by Speaker Anita Among, reasoning that the party has no powers to recall a serving commissioner under the current laws.
Not convinced by the Speaker's explanation, Mr Kyagulanyi later dropped Mr Mpuuga as his deputy President for the central region, something that has since created tension within the leading opposition political party.
Ms Among is said to have chaired the meeting in which the commissioners allocated themselves the said service award.
However, Mr Oguzu Le, a legislator representing Maracha constituency said the movers of the motion must prove to the MPs that the Shs1.7 billion ‘service award’ was not passed by Parliament before dragging into signing the motion.
“Before I append my signature, we must interrogate whether these awards were passed by Parliament as part of the budget, if they were not passed, then we have a strong case but if we passed them, then we may need to hold everybody collectively responsible,” he said.
The motion to censure the commissioners had by press time was signed by all the five movers.
