Speaker Among cracks down on corruption at Parliament

A number of MPs are teetering on the edge of a precipice after Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among sanctioned a sweeping anti-corruption campaign a few days ago, targeting suspected rogue MPs. 

Acting on information from at least one anti-corruption state agency, the Speaker blew the whistle on ‘‘dirty’’ MPs, warning party whips about the mischief being orchestrated by their colleagues. 

Ms Among also directed that a complaints desk be set up at the earliest opportunity to enable the general public report MPs involved in extortion. 

These extraordinary measures come weeks after she reportedly received information about legislators dabbling in a slew of criminal activities, to wit; “solicitation, financial impropriety [and other] “unscrupulous acts”. 

Monitor  has exclusively learnt that the Speaker was recently made aware that certain lawmakers are habitual offenders. It is alleged that they have made a bad habit of demanding and accepting bribes to suppress evidence of corruption in government. 

Well-informed sources told Monitor  on Friday that as part of the anti-graft crack-down, the police could swoop on Parliament any time this week to effect mass arrests of suspects. 

The sources indicate that a number of lawmakers who sit on accountability committees may be caught up in this web of bribery accusations.

While there is no specific definition for ‘financial impropriety’, Shadow attorney general Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East, Independent), on Friday told this newspaper that “this refers to misconduct such as bribery, demanding money with menaces, extortion, begging or seeking financial favours  among others”. 

In her August 18 letter to all party whips, the Speaker, who is also Bukedea Woman MP, complained about wide-ranging transgressions that are giving Parliament a bad name. Her letter was copied to Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa and Clerk to Parliament Adolf Mwesige.

The Speaker is currently on a private visit to the Vatican in Rome at the invitation of Pope Francis. But to put an end to what is believed to be “an old problem at  Parliament”, she also directed all party whips to take necessary action over the (mis)conduct of their members.  

“It has come to my knowledge that some Members of Parliament are reportedly involved in some unscrupulous acts in the execution of their mandate,” Ms Among’s letter reads in part.

“This alleged misconduct includes financial impropriety and solicitation, which is likely to jeopardise the otherwise good reputation of the institution of the Legislature,” Ms Among wrote, warning that her leadership “will not allow the Legislature to be entangled in disrepute”. 

Mr Chris Obore, the director for communications and public affairs at Parliament, yesterday confirmed the Speaker’s  communication. 

“The purpose of the Speakers’ letter is to demand that all Members of Parliament be exemplary. They are conferred the title ‘honourable’, so whatever they do should be honourable,” he said over the phone.

He added: “It may not be all members [involved in extortion] but there are some members who are taking bribes yet the core value of Parliament is transparency”. 

Efforts to get a comment from the National Unity Platform and Uganda Peoples Congress party whips were futile as they both neither picked our repeated calls, nor replied to our texts by press time.

Loose women, fast cash
Kira Municipality MP, Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju, the party whip for the Opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), confirmed receiving Ms Among’s letter, which he described as “broad and doesn’t mention a specific case”.

Mr Ssemujju said he will be discussing the letter with his party caucus and seeking more details from the Speaker.    

“Soliciting and extortion is an old problem at Parliament. In the last Parliament, we disbanded the Committee on Trade after fights over money in a hotel during processing of the Sugar Bill. [Then Speaker Rebecca] Kadaga called an emergency meeting with whips and we changed the whole committee,” Mr Ssemujju recounts. 

“There was [another ad hoc] committee that investigated Umeme, which was also investigated for allegedly receiving bribes. There was a committee, I think, that handled 2007 Chogm [accountability] that was supplied with women and money. They had retreated to write a report… Because of the nature of our work, Parliament has got to be vigilant,” the former journalist added.

Similarly, a former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Prof Morris Ogenga Latigo confirmed reports of past cases of graft among fellow MPs.

“In the last Parliament, I was shocked when MPs were receiving money to pass laws that favoured some interests,” the former Agago legislator said. 

Prof Latigo, however, declined to provide any more details, saying he would not want to resurrect old fights he had with some leaders across the political spectrum.

The historical nature of this suspected criminality among lawmakers was also confirmed by Mr Emmanuel Ddombo, former Bunyole East MP and Parliamentary Commissioner.

Mr Ddombo said: “There have been accusations against some committee chairpersons or members by government officials in the past but, unfortunately, this matter has never been investigated by Parliament.”

He said Parliament should investigate the allegations and that “whoever is found culpable is dealt with according to the law”.

Dark emissaries 
On July 28, 2015, enraged government accounting officers led by the then Executive Director of Kampala Capital City Authority, Ms Jennifer Musisi, and Mr Pius Bigirimana (then Gender ministry permanent secretary) exposed the illegal pressures they faced.

The officers told former Serere Woman MP Alice Alaso, who was chairing Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) at the time that many MPs were up to no good.

They said unnamed lawmakers were covertly dispatching “emissaries” to pick money from accounting officers, and threatening stubborn officials with hostile reports and intense grilling.  

“Some MPs send agents to us and others call my staff for facilitation. ‘I normally tell my staff we don’t have a budget for bribes’… Many times they put us under pressure, demanding that we facilitate them, that if we don’t, we are going to face hard time,” Ms Musisi said, before yielding the floor to allow Bigirimana make a rejoinder. 

Parliamentary sources have separately told Monitor that Ms Among wrote to party whips upon receiving what is deemed to be “prima facie evidence” of MPs’ corruption from the State House Anti-corruption Unit (SHACU).  

Other sources talked of a team from State House that has for the last three months been investigating MPs’ dirty dealings behind their back. Some were reportedly recorded in suspected sting operations by accounting officers, including being captured on video picking “facilitation” from some of public officials.

When reached for comment yesterday afternoon, SHACU spokesperson Mariam Natasha Oluka said: “Let me seek more clarification then, I get back to you”. However, by press time, Ms Oluka had not gotten in touch.

Signatures for sale
During induction of MPs into the 11th Parliament last June , Ms Justin Lumumba, the former government chief whip, who is now minister in the Office of the Prime Minister (General Duties), warned colleagues against corruption. 

Ms Lumumba, who was presenting a paper on the whipping system in a multiparty House, said :“Corruption is eating up some Members of Parliament. Some of them are preoccupied with looking for accounting officers to give them something. You are doing committee work and instead of signing the report, you turn around and you want to be paid.”   

Some accounting officers who talked to Monitor but requested not to be named for fear of being targeted, talked of “unrelenting pressure” from committee members and the “torture in the committees” in case of noncompliance. 

What others say...
 

Medard Ssegona, PAC chairman.

Well, it has generally been said and for me I clearly warn both my members and accounting officers [against bribes]. It’s difficult to take action where no specifics are given. It’s disturbing to hear such in a dignified institution.”

Hamson Obua, Government chief whip. 
I salute the Speaker for the proactive move. I commit to taking appropriate action on any NRM  member at Parliament once facts and evidence are adduced...As national leaders, we must lead by example and set the bar for integrity in leadership.

Nandala Mafabi, former PAC chair. 
Accountability committees must be beyond reproach. As MPs, it’s important that we lead by example and perform our duties with integrity because

Beti Kamya, the IGG 
We are asking citizens to take the lead in this war.  Those MPs ...will be investigated and those involved will be prosecuted... we inspire a collective responsibility to reject corruption and uphold the highest standards of integrity.

Paul Mwiru, former deputy PAC chair
In our meetings with accounting officers, we made it clear that we don’t ask for bribes, and that if they deal with individual members, nothing will change in the committee report. Some extortionists were using MPs as their victims.