Prime
Speaker orders probe into trade ministry graft claims
Speaker Anita Among chairs the plenary session at Parliament yesterday. PHOTO | DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- Ms Among said the media had misconstrued the communication she made on Tuesday, days after she jetted into the country from Rome in Italy, to mean that the parliamentary Committee of Trade was under probe.
The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among yesterday clarified that a probe by the parliamentary Committee on Trade will conduct a value-for-money audit into the governance and administration of various cooperatives under the Ministry of Trade.
Ms Among said the media had misconstrued the communication she made on Tuesday, days after she jetted into the country from Rome in Italy, to mean that the parliamentary Committee of Trade was under probe.
“Yesterday [Tuesday], I referred to the Committee on Trade and Tourism an inquiry into the alleged financial solicitation involving cooperatives. I have noted that the press reported very wrong things,” she remarked.
“I’m so disappointed that you [the press] write what you think, not what you hear. The institution being investigated is the Ministry of Trade and the issue being investigated is to do with cooperatives. We are not investigating the committee of Trade,” Ms Among said during the plenary sitting yesterday.
In her communication on Tuesday afternoon, Ms Among revealed that she had asked all party whips to support the Committee on Trade to undertake the investigations.
Whereas it has been noted that the matter under investigation has sucked in a section of legislators of the 11th Parliament into corruption allegations, no particular names of any suspected Members of Parliament have been mentioned.
The Monitor had reported in its Wednesday publication that the Speaker had directed all party whips to support investigations she had ordered into allegations of bribe-taking by MPs to reportedly influence parliamentary oversight activities.
Even when there were attempts by a section of Members of Parliament like the Aringa South legislator Mr Alioni Odria to have the matter privately handled, no headway was made on the aforementioned plea.
“I think this is a very serious issue which I feel deserves special treatment. Wouldn’t it be procedurally right for this matter to be handled by your office with utmost urgency?” Mr Odria requested.
The committee will on an undisclosed date look into the said investigation and thereafter report back to Parliament.
On Tuesday, the House adopted a report, with amendments, of the sectoral committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry which investigated the alleged misuse of a supplementary budget for the Financial Year 2021/2022.
Led by Mr Mwine Mpaka (NRM, Mbarara City South), the Committee recommended the sacking and investigation of Ms Geraldine Ssali, the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Cooperatives.
The committee said Ms Ssali breached sections of the Public Finance Management Act, 2015 and the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority Act, 2003.
