Prime
Among gives jailed MPs’ families Shs15m
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, on Friday afternoon offered financial support of Shs15m to the wives of jailed MPs Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye Division West) and Mr Muhammad Ssegirinya (Kawempe Division North), and the mother of the latter, Ms Justine Nakajumba.
What you need to know:
- Ms Among said the money was meant to cover immediate needs the three families are pressed with since their breadwinners have since September last been incarcerated
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, on Friday afternoon offered financial support of Shs15m to the wives of jailed MPs Allan Ssewanyana (Makindye Division West) and Mr Muhammad Ssegirinya (Kawempe Division North), and the mother of the latter, Ms Justine Nakajumba.
The money
In a message delivered by Iganga Municipality MP Peter Mugema, alias Panadol, Ms Among said the money was meant to cover immediate needs the three families are pressed with since their breadwinners have since September last been incarcerated.
“The Deputy Speaker offered to extend this financial support to you because they [MPs] said they can’t access the accounts because they are the ones [lone signatories to accounts] and, therefore, the families are struggling,” Mr Mugema said.
He added: “She, therefore, gave me a package of Shs5m to deliver to each of them so that they can sustain their families for the mean time.”
The Deputy Speaker also gave a Rosary to Ms Ssegirinya’s mother so that she ‘prays for justice’ to prevail in the entire judicial process that her son is currently undergoing.
The financial support was made less than a week after Ms Nakajumba stormed Parliament demanding to meet Ms Among, seeking her intervention in Mr Sssegrirnya’s case and, or have him released.
After she stormed Parliament premises on Tuesday, Ms Nakajumba was unable to deliver her message to the Deputy Speaker, who at the time, was said to be out of office.
After she received the financial support, Ms Nakajumba asked the Office of the Deputy Speaker to help her son get bail.
“I am requesting that my son is given bail because I am overwhelmed by the burden of his children,” Ms Nakajumba said.
She added: “And I have also never settled since he was arrested because I keep battling [high blood] pressure frequently.”
MPs’ wives speak out
Mr Ssewanyana’s wife, Ms Lydia Namata, demanded for the release of her spouse, saying she is struggling to tame the trauma that her children are going through.
She said the situation is made worse whenever the children watch news and see their father, who is facing murder charges.
“I have trouble handling our children. Each time they watch news and they see their father on TV, they tell me that we should get him out of the TV,” Ms Namata said.
Similarly, Ms Twahilah Akandinda, Mr Ssegirinya’s wife, premised her call for the release of her husband to the need to resuscitate community projects that he had, prior to the arrest, initiated to benefit the communities.
