The former leader of Opposition in Parliament Hon Mathias Mpuuga has asked the leadership of his party – the National Unity Platform to apologize to him after the High Court in Kampala Tuesday ruled that the 1.7 billion shillings that were shared between Mpuuga and three backbench commissioners of Parliament were “legal.”
Mpuuga, who also doubles as Nyendo-Mukungwe lawmaker and Commissioner of Parliament says the NUP leadership led by Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine called him corrupt and should therefore apologize for tarnishing his name.
“What is appalling is that someone judges another without hearing their side of the story. That is what was done by my party. The party leaders, I know, are following what is happening. I am waiting to see what their response will be. They should apologize. If they don’t, I know what to do,” Mpuuga said.
Mpuuga who was addressing journalists at his Parliament offices in Kampala said when he and other commissioners received the service award, his name was blackmailed and even people portioned the high court in May this year challenging the powers of the commission to give them a service award which the court has ruled on today in his favour and other parliamentary commissioners.
He further noted that there will never be consensus when it comes to matters of finance but that shouldn’t be used to tarnish people’s names before knowing the truth noting that today’s court ruling has settled everything.
“The court ruling should be the answer to all Ugandans who have been hoodwinked and those who have endeavoured to tarnish my name for their selfish interests to look for what to do. This is especially true for the idle Members of Parliament who have been in Parliament for 3–5 terms but have never learned how Parliament operates or the laws that govern parliament,” He explained.
The former DP stalwart also noted that parliament needs to offer more education to members of parliament on their duty to know what to speak when a certain matter happens.
Mpuuga asked the MPs who have been pushing the censure motion to come up and apologise to Ugandans for hoodwinking Ugandans on matters they have little knowledge of.
Asked what his next step is, Mpuuga said he is still thinking about what he is going to do to those people who have been tarnishing his name during this period noting that many Mps have been having meals and alcohol on his name and others have gained wealth.
He further noted that he has the duty to protect his name because he has worked so hard for his name to be where it is now.
The news of Mpuuga and the three backbench commissioners of Parliament receiving the said money came to light after an online campaign dubbed #UgandaParliamentExhibition accused Mpuuga and three other Parliamentary Commissioners of illegally awarding themselves huge sums of taxpayer’s money, claiming it was service awards.
Mpuuga is said to have been awarded Shs. 500 million. The commissioners, Solomon Silwany (Bukooli County Central MP), Prossy Mbabazi (Rubanda District Woman MP), and Esther Afoyochan (Zombo District Woman MP), received 400 million shillings each.
The NUP described the development as corruption and asked Mpuuga to return the money, step down as commissioner of Parliament, and apologize to the people of Uganda.
Mpuuga turned a deaf ear.
A concerned citizen, Daniel Bwette, sued the Parliamentary Commission, arguing that the service award was illegal but a ruling delivered that became public on Tuesday by Justice Douglas Karekona Singiza of the High Court Division ruled that the money used to pay the service award was part of the national budget and therefore lawful.
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