Namuganza, Ssenyonyi pile pressure on commissioners facing censure

The state minister for Housing and Urban Development, Ms Persis Namuganza, who was last year censured by Parliament, has appended her signature in favour of the motion to impeach four parliamentary commissioners.

Ms Namuganza is the first minister to sign the motion that has now garnered support of both the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party and Opposition legislators. 

The Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, and more than a dozen Opposition MPs also appended their signatures yesterday.

The censure motion targets commissioners Esther Afoyochan (NRM), Prossy Akampurira (NRM), Solomon Silwany (NRM) and Mathias Mpuuga (National Unity Platform), whom proponents of the motion accuse of illegally allocating themselves Shs1.7b in “service awards.”

Why she signed
Shortly after appending her signature, Ms Namuganza questioned the legality and morality of the service awards shared by the commissioners, arguing that their behaviour has not only damaged the integrity of the Legislature but also tarnished the image of the NRM party before the public.

“Parliament has lost its values because of corruption. In fact, if you put up a referendum right now to ask the population whether this Parliament should end where it is, they will vote it out,” Ms Namuganza said.

She further urged the electorates to vote out all anti-censure motion legislators “because that will be a signal to the population that they are corrupt and they support corruption.”

Ms Namuganza was in January 2023 censured by Parliament after the MPs accused her of violating her oath.  She has, however, retained the position, as President Museveni, who according to the Constitution, has the discretion to uphold or reject Parliament’s decision (in the case of ministers) has not taken any action.

Ms Namuganza also dismissed the allegations that the President is opposed to the censure motion, saying those asserting the allegations are hiding behind the President, who has on several occasions emphatically condemned corruption.

“Those who are alleging, especially the parliamentary leadership, that the President has said don’t sign, they are just looking for their own scapegoat. If the President doesn’t want this motion to go on, he will call the NRM caucus or write formally but as of now, I have not heard any word from the President against this motion,” she said.

It was unclear who exactly Ms Namuganza referred to as “Parliament leadership”
Speaker Anita Among has on multiple occasions blocked debate on corruption and questionable expenditure allegations that thrust the House in the spotlight, with multiple allegations levelled against her. Her deputy, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, has not publicly spoken out on the matter.

President Museveni and the NRM party have not officially spoken out on the allegations against its members. A letter attributed to Mr Museveni questioning the service award, that made round on social media, was denounced by State House officials as a fake.

Mr Ssenyonyi, who led a group of 16 Opposition legislators to sign the motion, emphasised that the ‘service award’ was an irregularity, reasoning that the awards did not go through the appropriation procedures of Parliament.

“They would have been vindicated if they had suggested it as a proposal in that meeting, then take it through the relevant committees and then brought it on the floor of Parliament for discussion as it is the case with the benefits of the Speaker, Vice President and others,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.

“As NUP, it vindicates us, because when we raised an alarm about this issue regarding our commissioner, some people thought this was an internal party fight,” he said.

Progress

The mover of the motion, Mr Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga) noted that the mass turnout of the Opposition MPs and the minister is a big boost in the ongoing campaign to collect 177 signatures, which will enable them to introduce the motion on the House floor.

“When you have the LoP coming in full strength with his members and a minister, this is very positive. We are not even pursuing other members for signatures, we are almost done,” Mr Ssekikubo said, without revealing the number of signatures collected by yesterday.

He also acknowledged having received reports about a section of legislators who ran to court, seeking legal interventions against the motion.

“They are running to court in anticipation, the motion is with us, it is better to come and have the issues sorted out here. Going to court, they are wasting their time, they should leave court and have the matter on the floor of Parliament,” he said.

By press time, we could not independently establish the legislators who have allegedly petitioned court and efforts to get a comment from the four targeted commissioners were also in vain.