Court orders disciplinary action against clerk to parliament, as it exonerates Mpuuga

The High Court has upheld the Shs1.7 billion Service Award given to the four Commissioners of Parliament on grounds that the money was lawfully approved by Parliament.

Earlier this year, Daniel Bwette dragged a Parliament Commission challenging Service Awards to the four Commissioners of Parliament. He sought court to declare the service award illegal, null, and void.

The leaked May 2022 resolutions of Parliament implicated the former Leader of the Opposition (LoP), Mathias Mpuuga, Commissioner Solomon Silwany, Prossy Akampurira, and Esther Afoyochan.

The document indicates that Mpuuga was awarded a one-off service payment of Shs500 million, while three commissioners from the National Resistance Movement each received Shs400 million. 

In his ruling, Justice Douglas Karekona Singiza upheld the Service Award. “I decline to award all the reliefs as prayed. A declaration that the decision, dated May 6, 2022, to award the former Leader of Opposition in Parliament and three other Commissioners a Service Award was approved by Parliament and formed part of the budget presented by the executive,” he ruled.

He called for reforms to curtail the issuance of service awards, warning that if the practice goes unchecked, agencies would deplete national coffers through endless service awards, yet the staff benefiting from the awards are already highly paid by taxpayers.

He ordered the Secretary to Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, to institute disciplinary action against Clerk to Parliament, Adolf Mwesige, over the controversial payments.

“Newspaper articles and social media posts in this country are awash with reports of allegations of government agencies and politicians awarding themselves prizes in the form of money. This is common in government agencies and entities whose staff are already highly paid. If this practice continues unchecked, there is likelihood that our nation’s coffers may be depleted,” read in part Justice Karekona’s ruling.

He ordered Attorney General Kiwanuka Kiryowa to urgently consider a Salary and Emoluments Review Board Bill, whose object would be to review and harmonise the emoluments and allowances of government and political leaders.

He said such a board would reduce the temptation of leaders adopting rather ad hoc ways of enhancing their emoluments under the cover of prize money, these being matters which the board should in fact report directly to the President.