A section of members of Parliament have kicked off a process to remove four (4) parliamentary commissioners from office including; Hon. Mathias Mpuuga, Hon. Solomon Silwany, Hon. Esther Afoyochan and Hon. Akampurira Prossy, all accused of sharing UGX1.7billion in “service awards”
MPs, Hon Theodore Sekikuubo(Rwemiyaga county), Hon Sarah Opendi (Soroti Woman), Gonzaga Sewungu (Kalungu West), Patrick Oshabe Nsamba (Kasambya North) and Alion Odria (Aringa South), contend that the four commissioners understand the illegality they involve in, and the option left for them is to either step down or be impeached.
During a press conference in parliament today, Theodore Ssekikubo said the quartet; Esther Afoyochan (Zombo DWR), Prossy Akampulira (Rubanda DWR), Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central) and Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo-Mukungwe), must be removed from their positions as members of the parliamentary commission for misconduct because they also made deals to award themselves a monthly salary of Shs23M, on top of the salary they are already drawing as MPs, without seeking approval from the House.
“They (Commissioners) never presented it (service award proposal) to Parliament, it was kept a secret, it wasn’t known, it was their own deal and we say, this can’t be left unchallenged. The conduct of the members affronts the dignity of Parliament, it degraded public trust and confidence in the institution of Parliament. The conduct of these members amounts to misbehavior, misconduct thereby, making the aforementioned members liable to be removed from the office of the Commission of Parliament in accordance to the Rules of Procedure of Parliament, the Constitution and Administration of the Parliament Act,” said Ssekikubo.
Hon. Sekikuubo said their ouster will restore the dignity & integrity of Parliament, and also maintain & strengthen the public trust and confidence in Parliament.
According to Ssekikubo, the censure motion will only require 177 signatures, and called on all MPs to come out of hiding and append their signatures to the censure motion in order to save Uganda from being ‘hijacked by the dogs.’
He said, “Duty demands that MPs must come back, they can’t keep hiding, we aren’t interested in other officers, but the Commissioners are ours, we must set the example, we must say no to the misconduct, to the diversion of public funds for personal aggrandizement and this is the time. The Commissioners, now is their time, they can step down, they can resign before the motion catches up with them.”
Hon. Sarah Opendi (Tororo DWR) asked Ugandans to ensure that all their MPs append their signatures on the censure motion remarking, “I also want to call upon the voters to cross check whether your MPs have appended their signatures, we shall be publishing this list and please see those MPs who aren’t here to serve you and MPs.”
