Parliament failure to debate corruption is betrayal to Ugandans – CSOs say
MPs during a session chaired by the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, on July 23, 2024. PHOTO | DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Parliament’s resumption on Tuesday had coincided with March to Parliament anti-graft protests that have led to arrests of more than 100 demonstrators.
Civil Society Organizations (CSO) have expressed displeasure over parliament’s failure to debate and moot measures to tackle corruption tendencies in the country.
In Uganda, CSOs say they are dismayed that parliament Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa turned a deaf ear to calls for a debate on corruption as the House returned from a month-long-recess on Tuesday, before it was unprecedentedly suspended until July 30.
“This shows that parliament is also part and parcel in promoting corruption in this country. And one of the ways of doing this is that Parliament has promoted budgeting for corruption,” Civil Society Budget Advocacy Group (CSBAG) Executive Director Julius Mukunda said.
He added: “Whereas we know that certain expenditures in government are not productive but are likely to end up in private pockets, Parliament has continued to appropriate those kinds of resources.”
Parliament’s resumption on Tuesday had coincided with March to Parliament anti-graft protests that have led to arrests of more than 100 demonstrators currently facing prosecution over being “public nuisance.”
At Tuesday’s sitting, lawmakers including Alioni Odria (Aringa South), Jonathan Odur (Erute South) and Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala) joined Leader of Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi in pressing Tayebwa for a debate on corruption.
“We challenge parliament to establish mechanisms of debating matters of national importance, such as corruption scandals that lead to grave wastage of public resources,” CSOs said in a letter dated July 26.
Additionally, they want “government to investigate all cases of corruption and misuse of power and ensure that the culprits are presented before the law.”
Arrests of protestors condemned
Mukunda also condemned the arrest of peaceful protestors saying “the arrest of the youth in the country by government is a depiction that government has actually failed to address the issues of not only the youth but also for the society at large.”
CSOs join growing voices online and by international observers, calling on government to free the detained anti-corruption demonstrators.
