LOP Ssenyonyi approves major probe on parliament finances

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Ssenyonyi has written to anti-corruption agencies of the government demanding that the Speaker and Clerk to Parliament should be probed.

Ssenyonyi wrote to the Inspectorate of Government, the Financial Intelligence Authority FIA, the Directorate of Public Prosecution – DPP, and the Office of the Auditor General arguing that Anita Among, and Mwesige were involved in the questionable expenditure of billions of public tax for personal gains.

Ssenyonyi said that if the Government still stands firm with its policy of zero tolerance to corruption, the anti-corruption agencies and the DPP must not shy away but act in line with their requisite legal mandates in the public interest.

He wants the inquiry to ascertain how Among received a sum of 2.6 billion Shillings per diem facilitation from Parliament in 146 days for foreign trips yet she did not travel.

Ssenyonyi cited a non-existent trip to Midland in South Africa where the Speaker allegedly traveled for 20 days and was paid 318,000 million.

That, he said implies that out of the total 2.6 billion, the Speaker was being paid by Parliament up to USD 4,000 (15.3 million) every single day contrary to her official per diem rate of USD 990 (about 3.8 million Shillings).

According to Ssenyonyi, the Clerk to Parliament who is the Accounting Officer of the Parliament must be tasked to explain some of the payments. It is alleged that Mwesige equally paid himself huge sums of money as allowances for trips abroad.

Ssenyonyi further demanded a probe into staffing concerns at Parliament. It is alleged that over 200 employees at the Parliament were irregularly hired.

A report of the Auditor General for financial that ended 30 June 2023 revealed that 105 staff on Parliament payroll were untraceable.

Further, the Opposition wants the 1.7 billion Shillings that the Parliamentary Commission chaired by Among paid out 500 million shillings to the former Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga as a service award. Two back-bench MPS belonging to the NRM party but serving on the Parliamentary Commission reportedly received 400 million shillings.

Ssenyony revealed that it has also emerged from whistleblowers that 9.9 billion Shillings were wired by Parliament to the private bank accounts of some staff under the guise of facilitating the Speaker’s community outreach programmes yet the monies were withdrawn and remitted to the Speaker of Parliament,  Anita Among.

He explained that investigations must explain why 2.4 billion was credited to one of the Assistant Directors at Parliament; 1.1 billion to the Speaker’s Principal Protocol Officer, and 1.9 billion to the Director of Communications and Public Affairs, while another 4.5 billion was to another personnel in the Speaker’s office.

Ssenyonyi also showed a copy of the contract between the Parliament Commission and Mama Bukedea FM, which he wants the investigators to explain how the radio station owned by the Speaker was awarded the 3.13 billion Shillings to undertake coverage of Parliamentary businesses.

When contacted, Chris Obore, the Spokesperson of Parliament dismissed the allegations as rumors and political gimmicks to malign the reputation of the Speaker. For Mama Bukedea FM, Obore said the contract was lawfully awarded because the entity is a pre-qualified service provider by Parliament.

Earlier this month, the LOP wrote to the Speaker urging her to convene a meeting of the Parliamentary Commission to discuss the allegations. However, on 12 March, the Speaker replied to LOP saying the earliest the Commission will sit is by 30 June 2024.

Two days later on March 15, the LOP and other MPs raised the matter during a plenary sitting chaired by Among to respond to the accusations but the Speaker dismissed it as a mere social media concoction fueled by the Anti-Gay law activists.

She subsequently blocked further debate on the matter despite insistence from the opposition MPs and later referred the matter to be handled exclusively by the Parliamentary Commission which she chairs.

For several weeks now, Parliament has been put in the spotlight by a digital public square, Agora Discourse; Makerere University Tutor, Dr. Jimmy Spire Ssentongo; and Agatha Atuhaire (a journalist and lawyer). Through X, a micro-blogging service and social network, the activists have rallied the public to hold Parliament accountable for what they described as wasteful expenditure of public tax.

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