Members of the public have called for action against all leaders in Parliament accused of corruption moments after the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party asked former LoP, Mathias Mpuuga to resign from the position of Commissioner of parliament after admitting to have taken part in an irregular service award amounting to UGX 500 million.
In a statement issued on Thursday February 29 evening, NUP said this was in response to an ongoing online protest under the hashtag #UgandaParliamentExhibition, which implicated Hon. Mpuuga and some party leaders in massive corruption, abuse of office and gross mismanagement of public affairs by the leadership of Parliament.
“Specifically, our former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and current Parliamentary Commissioner, Rt. Hon. Mathias Mpuuga alongside three other Parliamentary Commissioners have been accused of irregularly awarding themselves huge sums of tax-payers’ money on the pretext of “Service Awards”. Under the scheme, Rt. Hon. Mpuuga was allocated 500,000,000/. (Five Hundred Million Uganda Shillings),” NUP said in a statement.
The party said during the meeting that took place on Wednesday 28th February 2024, Mpuuga admitted that he indeed took part in this wrong doing and apologised for the same.
“In light of this, he was strongly advised that the moral thing to do in the circumstances is to step down from his role as Parliamentary Commissioner with immediate effect. The nation will recall that the values of the National Unity Platform are Discipline, Reliability, Inclusiveness, Integrity, Patriotism and Service. All actions of corruption and abuse of office go contrary to these values. They also go contrary to the Integrity Oath which every leader of the Party swore at the start of this term,” they said.
And now several Ugandans took to social media to demand that all other Parliament leaders implicated step down.
Dr Jim Spire Ssentongo who is spearheading the #UgandaParliamentExhibition, commended NUP for taking action but said all implicated Opposition MPs should be disciplined.
“In that spirit, for this not to seem to be about Hon. Mpuuga alone, let all the NUP MPs who could have participated in taking the unexplained 100m (and other shady monies) be investigated and equally be publicly called to order,” he said
“Let them also explain why they were quiet about all the rot that the Exhibition has unearthed, yet it was no hidden secret in Parliament. Let them prove to the public that they were not complacent or closing their eyes so that their backs are scratched in return. Let this be a moment for wholesome reflection about their service to the public and commitment to their ethos and mandate. The public has been abused enough by those facilitated by our taxes and monies borrowed with us as security.”
Joseph Rukara said: “I am not a really fan of political parties but honesty being straightforward, and admitting mistakes is the most important in any party and trustworthiness is the coin of the realm. NUP you have nailed.”
Yona Mujunante said; “Why do I see Hon. Mpuga coming back as independent MP with full support of the #HEMUKE project in 2026. Assuming he will not cross to MK. #NUP will struggle getting the same numbers they had if they called everyone tainted to order. Babiwani boona.”
Moses Amone said: “This could somehow explain the reason why Asuman Basalirwa has been showboating a lot lately and isn’t keeping Kyagulanyi and NUP’s company anymore.”
