A group of Members of Parliament (MPs) pushing for the censure motion of the parliamentary backbench commissioners has written a letter to protest the Speaker Among’s decision, seeking reconsideration of her ruling that quashed the motion.

The group led by the Lwemiyaga county MP, Theodore Ssekikubo, during a local radio interview on August 20, 2024, rejected the speaker’s decision to dismiss their motion from the order paper, noting that their motion has other issues of wasteful expenditure that need to be debated.

According to sskikuubo, the protest letter seeks reconsideration of her decision, which he viewed as an obstruction to accountability regarding the controversial UGX 1.7 billion service awards received by the commissioners.

“The commissioners had been sued for sharing UGX 1.7 billion under the guise of a service award. And we needed them to explain their misconduct. We have other grounds on our motion that include misconduct and misbehavior that involve the siphoning out of money, parliamentary commission money with fictitious trips, and unconscionable expenditures,” Sekikuubo noted.

He further said that an MP cannot spend 90 days outside the country and get paid, calling it an unconscionable expenditure and waste of taxpayers’ money.

Ssekikubo noted that he will continue to rally support among MPs and is as well likely to explore further legal avenues to ensure the motion is heard.

On August 16, 2024, Speaker Anita Annet Among informed Ssekikubo that she could not advance the motion, citing various reasons, including procedural constraints—a decision that sparked significant backlash from Ssekikubo and other lawmakers who view it as an attempt to shield the implicated commissioners from scrutiny.

The motion comes at a time of heightened public scrutiny over corruption in Parliament, with protests calling for accountability. Ssekikubo and his supporters remain determined to push for the motion despite the speaker’s ruling, believing that it reflects broader issues of integrity within the government.

The motion targeted four commissioners, including Mathias Mpuuga, Prossy Akampurira Mbabazi, Esther Afoyochan, and Solomon Silwany, who are being accused of awarding themselves substantial funds of UGX 1.7 billion without parliamentary approval.