Prime
Parliament has lost value over corruption- Minister Namuganza
The State Minister for Housing, Persis Namuganza
What you need to know:
- In 2023, a total of 348 MPs voted to have the minister censured, five MPs voted no with three abstentions.
- Ms Namuganza is the first minister to sign the motion against the four commissioners.
The State Minister for Housing, Persis Namuganza said Tuesday that she was concerned about the image of the 11th Parliament which has been tainted by widespread allegations of corruption.
According to Ms Namuganza, also a legislator who represents Bukono County in Namutumba District in Eastern Uganda, the 11th Parliament under the leadership of Bukedea Woman MP, Anita Among has lost its value because of corruption.
“The issue at hand is corruption. It has become a cancer in this country and some of us don’t like corruption. Our party, NRM is losing popularity because of corruption. Parliament has lost its value because of corruption. Everywhere we go, people are saying that Parliament,” she said Tuesday after appending her signature on the proposal championed by Lwmiyaga County MP, Theodore Ssekikubo to censure four Parliamentary commissioners who shared Shs1.7 billion among themselves as a service award.
Ms Namuganza is the first minister to sign the motion.
The commissioners; Mathias Mpuuga (MP Nyendo - Mukungwe) who was allocated Shs500m, Esther Afoyochan (Zombo Woman MP), Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central MP), and Prossy Mbabazi Akampurira (Rubanda Woman MP) who were each allocated Shs400 million.
In 2023, a total of 348 MPs voted to have the minister censured, five MPs voted no with three abstentions.
This was after Parliament found Ms Namuganza guilty of violation of her oath, and that her conduct satisfied the grounds in Article 118 of the Constitution.
“I was censured over nothing. They said I stole land, from there they said I was indiscipline. Indiscipline over what? Because they fear some of us who can talk about some of these vices which are very negative in society,” Ms Namuganza added after signing the censure motion against her four colleagues.
According to her, if there was a referendum about Parliament, Ugandans would vote to abolish the legislative body which has become “a shame and an embarrassment” to all citizens.
“Those who are responsible for corruption and even those who don’t support it are in the same basket. Some of us must show the population that we’re not part of it,” she said.
She appealed to Ugandans to vote out MPs who will not sign the censure motion, arguing that their reluctance to sign the motion was a clear indication that they are direct beneficiaries of corruption at the August House.
“It would they (MPs who don’t sign) are corrupt and support corruption,” she said.
She revealed that some MPs had started claiming that the parliamentary leadership had contacted them saying President Museveni had advised against signing.
“They should not involve the president. His communication channels are clear. He can write or call the NRM parliamentary caucus. Those who are alleging, especially the Parliamentary leadership that the president had said they shouldn’t sign, are just looking for their escape. If the president didn’t want this motion to go on, he would have called all of us. I belong to the NRM parliamentary caucus which has not taken place. I have not even heard anything from the president. I urge MPs who still want to be relevant to sign this motion,” she added.
Earlier in the day, following complaints that Opposition MPs had shied away from signing the censure motion, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi led a section of his team to sign the motion and described the exercise as vindication for the National Unity Platform (NUP) that was earlier accused of vilifying his predecessor, Mr Mpuuga.
