Members of Parliament who allegedly received a 40M bribe from NRM have threatened to take legal action against their accusers if they dare repeat the same allegation outside parliament.
Last week, opposition MPs led by Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo Municipality) alleged that the NRM MPs, 317 in total, received a 40m Shillings bribe for passing a motion appreciating president Museveni for handling the COVID-19 pandemic well.
Speaking to the press today, Hon. Margret Muhanga, who is the Spokesperson of the NRM caucus, denied giving out or receiving a bribe of shs40m to appreciate the President, saying there was no need to bribe parliamentarians to appreciate president Museveni way after the motion had been passed.
She and other NRM legislators including Kole North MP Bonny Okello, Bukoli North MP Solomon Silwanyi and Kiboga East MP Hon. Kefa Kiwanuka, the MPs said their accusers have made it a habit to abuse parliamentary immunity to tarnish their names, but not this time.
“We (NRM MPs) have tolerated this blackmail for so long, but this time around we are tired and ready to take action against them. We dare them to repeat the same allegations outside the precincts of Parliament and we shall sue them.” Kole North MP, Bonny Okello said.
Margaret Muhanga said the MPs who made the 40m bribe allegations have a record of peddling lies before parliament but vowed to take action this time.
“It’s been a tradition by these people to project themselves before the public as saviors and making NRM MPs look as sinners, but we are not going to let it go while we lie low.. we need to look at our rules of procedure and have these members sent to the disciplinary committee for hiding behind immunity of parliament to abuse us” Muhanga said.
She said MPs passed the motion of appreciation on Tuesday (last week) and the bribe allegations came on Saturday, which does not make sense to justify the claim. The Mps challenged Karuhanga and his group to make the same allegations outside parliament. They also demanded that the evidence of the 40M alleged bribe be produced by their accusers.
Muhanga also accused the opposition members of parliament for always portraying themselves before the public as saviors and labeling their counterparts as sinners.
The MPs including Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Sekikubo, Kumi Woman MP Monica Amoding, Kalungu West MP Joseph Ssewungu and Ntungamo Municipality MP Gerald Karuhanga claim that the 317 MPs were slated to receive a total of 100 million each through the office of the government Chief Whip for spearheading a motion to appreciate Museveni’s effort in fighting coronavirus.
The alleged pay-out follows a bitter exchange between the MPs and President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni over his statement against the payment of Shillings 20 million to each MP by Parliamentary Commission to aid their fight against COVID-19 pandemic which sparked tension between the Executive and Legislature.
Some analysts say, the move could be a battle to claim dominance over parliament raging between the leadership of the legislature and cabinet, following a recent disagreement on usage of funds in the fight against COVID-19.
Hon. Karuhanga and his group say that the availed 40 million each is meant to facilitate their colleagues in their constituencies and also help them refund the 20 million earlier provided by the Parliamentary Commission as directed by President Museveni.