Censure Motion Divides MPs, as Hon Alioni Odria of Aringa South Constituency is Accused of Running to Canada for 26 Days Holiday.

Lutamaguzi Ssemakula (Nakaseke South) has denied allegations of receiving the Shs25M that is said to have been given to each MP, not to append their signatures on the censure motion for the Parliamentary Commissioners, saying that his hesitancy lay with the mistrust he had towards Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga County) who is leading the exercise, having earlier betrayed Ugandans in 2017, when he supported the removal of age limit for presidency.

"I wasn’t going to sign, but I never trusted the people taking this petition. but after making several consultations, and yesterday, there has been a rumour that whoever hasn’t signed has been given Shs25M not to sign, that is why I am here. To confirm that I haven’t received the Shs25M. I never trusted you, you remember in the 10thParliament, we were here fighting Age limit and you and at the end of the day, you supported President Museveni, that is why I never trusted you,” said Lutamaguzi.

Lutamaguzi also wondered why Yorke Alion (Aringa South) who was part of the team leading the censure motion left the country, with plans to stay in Canada for 26 days saying, his decision to abandon the censure struggle, further compounded his doubts about the legitimacy of the censure process, but he was provoked into backing the censure of the Commissioners upon learning that on top of the Shs1.7Bn they awarded amongst themselves, the team had been drawing a monthly salary of Shs23M, on top of the emoluments as MPs.“You should walk the talk, now that I have appended my signature, and you know the processes that will take to eject these Commissioners, because when you talked about the Shs23M, at first I thought it was Shs1.7Bn, but when you discovered that these same people awarded themselves a monthly Shs23M salary, that is how I had to come and sign. Let the public know that we were never given Shs25M which they are alleging and I am signing, trusting you. This is my last trust in you, if you don’t finish on what you have started, fire will burn you,” remarked Lutamaguzi.This was after Patrick Nsamba (Kassanda North) asked him to append his signature in order to allow the process that will lead to the tabling of evidence saying, “Shadow Attorney General, you can’t ask us for evidence right now, on the floor of Parliament, on presenting the motion, all the evidence will come through. But for you, what you have to support us on is the have this cause appear there.”Wilfred Niwagaba, Shadow Attorney General declined to sign the censure motion, seeking to oust the four Commissioners accused of awarding themselves Shs1.7Bn service award, until the team leading the process avails him with tangible evidence of the crimes being brought against the accused noting, “I look at the rules differently.. So when you have (evidence), you let me know.”Nathan Byanyima (Bukanga North) refused to sign the censure motion, saying Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba did a great job as former Leader of Opposition, and warned the team backing the censure of the Commissioners, not to threaten MPs with being voted out, arguing that his voters didn't send him to Parliament to censure Commissioners, but rather work for them."Who will not have wanted to appreciate the services of Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba? In Uganda people don’t appreciate, but the work Mpuuga did, if there was any motion in whatever Commission, we entrusted the powers of the Commission to do the job, even whatever money happened, it was through the Commission. Our budget isn’t like any other budget subjected to debate, when they are reading the budget, you will see some envelopes put in the Commission, the President just makes comments, so the Commissioners are there to take care of our interests, they are our trustees, so when they go wrong, really when you see someone go wrong, is the punishment being to kill him?” remarked Byanyima."Don’t intimidate MPs, I have heard people say that if you don’t sign, you will not be given votes in the constituency. When I censured the Minister, people asked me, did we send you to censure Ministers or we sent you to work for us? As somebody who has been in it, I would like something to be transparent so that you can package something and it succeeds. 

If I find that the money was appropriated by us, because MPs don’t read a lot, things pass, what if the money was passed by us, what will happen?” added Byanyima.Byanyima argued that as a legislator who has censured some Ministers in the past, there is need for the censure motion to clearly stipulate the grounds for censure, so that the aggrieved team packages something that is airtight. I wouldn’t want to have a censure that has loopholes, I would like MPs to be convinced. I would encourage people to read the grounds properly, contrive it, so that at the end of the day, but the way it is done, I feel there is something short,” he noted.

Abdu Katuntu (Bugweri County) has distanced himself from participating in the ongoing motion for the censure of the Parliamentary Commissioners, citing his judicious role as Chairperson of Parliament’s Rules Committee, that is charged with handling matters regarding allegations of misbehavior of MPs, saying he can’t be party to the process that would accuses MPs who would potentially end up in his Committee."I have a judicious mind and a judicious responsibility, I am the Chairperson of the Rules Committee of Parliament which is charged with the responsibility of investigating any issue on alleged allegations of misbehavior. Given that role, I can’t participate in being an accuser because these are potentially matters that may come to my committee and I have a judicious mind, so I can’t be therefore the one accusing MPs, instead, MPs appear before my Committee. So I can’t be party to the process of being an accuser,” explained Katuntu.

Sarah Opendi (Tororo DWR) accused Wilfred Niwagaba (Shadow Attorney General) for acting like a hired gun, after he demanded for evidence being relied up to censure the Parliamentary Commissioner and asked Ugandans to watch out for such MPs when they return to their areas asking for votes in the next elections.

"For a senior member of the House, who is also a Shadow Attorney General (Wilfred Niwagaba) to come and make statements which are contrary, we consulted legal minds before we even moved this motion because our focus is the removal of the commissioners not removal of all members of the Parliamentary Commission. But we all know they are behaving like hired guns, it is very unfortunate to behave like hired guns, making accountability for whoever could have sent them,” said Opendi."

There are some people who are hell-bent on tagging corruption allegations every time to homosexuality, I have been informed how some MPs were called and informed that I was given money by homosexuals, and this is the money I am using to bankroll this motion. 

I don’t have any money, any contact with any homosexual, because I don’t know of any, I know they exist, but I don’t know of any. So let us differentiate corruption and deal with corruption as an issue but not mixing corruption with homosexuality, every time an issue is raised," added Opendi.Opendi also rejected appeals by some MPs seeking to resolve the issue raised against the Commissioners internally, saying that there were attempts made by Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga County) and Jonathan Odur (Erute South) to hold the Commission accountable during plenary, but all their attempts were thwarted thus leaving the team with no option but censure the Commissioners.

"I have heard some MPs say that we should have allowed this go through the internal process, what other process do we have? I want to tell Ugandans that please look out for such MPs that are jumping or want to put aside other rules so that we follow some other rules because of their own motives because we are very clear, all we want is for the Commissioners to account to us because we are supposed to elect them. They actually came into office in a manner that flouted our Rules because the Rules talk about election of Commissioners not appointment of Commissioners,” added Opendi.

Source: Parliamentary Watch. 

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