The Leader of Opposition in Pariament (LOP), Joel Ssenyonyi has led a delegation of opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) to sign the censure motion against the four commissioners among whom is Mathias Mpuuga.
This move was made following complaints made by Theodore Ssekikubo, the Lwemiyaga County MP, that Opposition MPs have shied away from signing the censure motion for Parliamentary Commissioners.
According to Ssenyonyi, leading his team to sign the motion, described the exercise as vindication for National Unity Platform that was earlier accused of orchestrating their own party member, Mathias Mpuuga.
Ssenyonyi made the remarks while addressing journalists at Parliament on May 28,2024 where he stated that, what happened is an irregularity, for colleague leaders to sit and award themselves money, adding that they would have been vindicated if they had suggested it in a meeting, taken it through the relevant Committee of Legal and Parliamentary Affairs to bring it on the floor of Parliament for discussion.
“Together with some colleagues, we came to sign this censure motion, as this is very imperative, because for us in NUP , it vindicates us, because when we raised alarm about this issue regarding our Commissioner, some people thought this is an internal party fight and we kept saying, why are you degrading from the critical issue of money that people sat and awarded themselves? So, we are vindicated because this shows it isn’t an internal party fight of NUP,” Ssenyonyi said.
Ssenyonyi further reaveled that the commissioners were saying that the Speaker, and Vice President all get benefits, but those were discussed on the floor of Parliament even when some of the members disagreed with it. He, however, said that the commissioners’ service award was not passed for people to sit but was done in a very hasty manner.
Ssekikubo welcomed the move by Ssenyonyi to lead his team to sign the censure motion, saying that it has boosted the exercise of collection of signatures and if the trend continues, the team in charge would be able to close the exercise at the end of the week. He further emphasised on the senior Members of Parliament to lead the way of soliciting of signatures.
On May 21, 2024, a group of MPs demanded for the censure of Esther Afoyochan (Zombo DWR), Prossy Akampulira (Rubanda DWR), Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central), and Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo-Mukungwe). The commissioners in question are accused of awarding themselves unauthorized service awards totaling UGX 1.7 Bn, along with a monthly salary of UGX 23 M, without seeking parliamentary approval.
