The Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LOP), Joel Ssenyonyi, has welcomed the motion to censure Mathias Mpuuga and other Parliamentary Commissioners, which is being spearheaded by National Resistance Movement (NRM) Members of Parliament (MPs).

While speaking to journalists at Parliament on May 23, 2024, Ssenyonyi said that this should be able to restate arguments in public that the National Unity Platform’s (NUP) decision to categorize the service award as immoral wasn’t intended to target Mathias Mpuuga in person but rather to call out the irregularities surrounding the award.

This follows a pronouncement by MPs led by Theodore Ssekikubo of Lwemiyaga county, who called for the removal from office of all the MPs on the Parliamentary Commission over the UGX 400M–500M they shared amongst themselves as a Service Award.

The group argued that the removal of the commissioners will restore the dignity and integrity of Parliament as well as maintain and strengthen public trust and confidence in Parliament.

“I am actually glad that this issue has gone away from just NUP because previously, people have been saying this is a fight between NUP and Mathias Mpuuga. Come on, this is a question of money that these people awarded to themselves; irregularly, Parliament didn’t discuss that matter like all discussions that we get to have when money is to be passed; they just sat quietly and they passed this money,” Ssenyonyi noted.

LOP Ssenyonyi also confirmed that he will be appending his signature to the censure motion to see to it that others from NRM are removed from their positions as members of the Parliamentary Commission.

“You can’t be six months into office and sit and award yourselves money; what have you done in six months? This now gets to remove politics, as some people have been saying, NUP versus Mpuuga. No, it is a question of an irregularity that happened, and I am glad our colleagues have come on board. I am going to append my signature,” he added.

The members in question include, but are not limited to, Esther Afoyochan, the Zombo District Woman MP; Prossy Akampulira, the Rubanda District Woman MP; and Solomon Silwany, the Bukooli Central Member of Parliament.

“I am glad that folks in the NRM are raising the occasion and saying this is problematic, and actually, it is important that they take the lead because they have three members and we in the opposition have one. I am glad that they have come on board because that is what we have been telling them,” Ssenyonyi said.

A section of Members of Parliament moved to censure Mpuuga and three other commissioners over the allocation of a Service Award worth UGX 1.7 billion to themselves. Mpuuga and the others are being accused of misconduct and abuse of office.

On the other hand, the former Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba, vehemently denied the accusations and explained the complexities surrounding the issue in a statement he wrote on his social media platform X on March 1, 2024.