Africa-Press – Uganda. The Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mr Joel Ssenyonyi has rallied all members of the opposition in Parliament to sign in favour of the motion to impeach his predecessor, Mr Mathias Mpuuga and three other parliamentary commissioners over Shs1.7 billion, which they allegedly shared as ‘service awards’.
Addressing the media at Parliament on May 23, Mr Ssenyoyi, who is set to sign the same motion on May 24, said the opposition has been against ‘service awards’ and all forms of corruption which impedes the progress of national development agendas.
“We have discussed this matter as a shadow cabinet and we have made it clear that this so-called service award was wrong and I am encouraging my colleagues in the opposition to do the signing because this was irregular,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.
He further commended his National Resistance Movement (NRM) counterparts for spearheading the censure motion, adding that themove will prove that the earlier efforts by National Unity Platform (NUP) were not a witch-hunt to Mr Mpuuga.
“I am glad that folks in the NRM are rising to the occasion to realize that this is problematic and it is important that they take lead because they have three commissioners. This now gets to remove the politics as some people have been trying to make it look like it is NUP Vs Mpuuga,” he said.
On May 21, a section of legislators led by Mr Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga county MP) launched a motion to impeach the four commissioners of Parliament who allegedly shared Shs1.7 billion as ‘service awards’.
In the ongoing campaign, the legislators are seeking to collect 177 signatures from their colleagues to enable them table the drafted motion on the floor of Parliament.
The four commissioners targeted in the censure motion are Mr Mathias Mpuuga (former Leader of Opposition), Ms Esther Afoyochan, Mr Solomon Silwanyi and Ms Prossy Akampurira.
According to Mr Ssekikubo, at least 35 legislators have already appended their signatures in favour of the motion and he is optimistic that by the end of next week, they will have all the needed 177 signatures.
“So far so good, just that most of our colleagues are in their respective constituencies because the House is in recess but we are receiving overwhelming support from them and they are ready to sign on their arrival to the House,” he said.
However, Tororo District woman MP, Ms Sarah Opendi has expressed concern that a section of legislators are plotting to interrupt the signature collection process and a matter has been reported to the Parliamentary DPC, “we have reliable information that some people are planning to grab these lists, but we have informed the relevant authorities and action will be taken against anybody hoping to grab these lists.”
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