KAMPALA – President Museveni and his Central Executive Committee, have at a high-level meeting of the top organ of the ruling National Resistance Movement, resolved to discuss a litany of corruption allegations against Parliament headed by Speaker Anita Annet Among.
“Parliamentary business is set to constitute part of the major agenda of the next CEC meeting,” a top official who sits at the high table of the ruling NRM politics told UG Standard on the weekend.
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“In the very last meeting, the controversy of visitors in CEC was discussed. The visitors in this case are The Vice President, Speaker of Parliament, and Prime Minister,” the official said, citing growing concern about the attendance of these senior government officials.
Without giving details, the official said a very senior member of the CEC has since taken up the matter of discussing parliamentary business in the next meeting and has the backing of other leaders.
“With the ongoing Exhibition against parliament, the concern is that the party must swing in to save face,” the official, a highly regarded public affairs commentator.
“CEC being the nominating body for the Speaker and Deputy, are convinced that without intervention, things may get worse. NRM has the lion’s share in parliament, many members have complained about how parliament is being run,” the official said.
“We are going to address these matters in the next meeting, the degeneration of Parliament is so visible and we can’t just keep quiet, one senior member said.
The CEC recently complained about the appointment of commissioners and designation of committee Chairs and their deputies.
Abuse of public funds, Failing hospitals, Potholes in the streets of Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and plundering of cash for allowances among other issues feature in an online protest campaign that is rattling government officials and others in Uganda.
The campaign has been trending on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, as #UgandaParliamentExhibition. It relies on leaks of official documents and has been cast as an “exhibition” — in a sequence of postings — about controversial issues.
The latest posts, about the Uganda parliament – revealing details about abuse of public resources, nepotism in staff recruitment, and even collusion between civil servants and lawmakers on oversight committees.
They also focus on Parliament Speaker Anita Among, an influential member of the ruling party, who is criticized for collecting huge sums in allowance spending on foreign travel, including trips that did not happen.
The campaign alleges Among was paid the equivalent of UGX 3.5 billion in per diems and entertainment allowances between July and January, an astonishing amount in a country struggling to implement its budget amid persistent revenue shortfalls.
A parliamentary commission which Speaker Among heads had earlier raised daily per diem rates for the speaker from UGX3.8 million to $ 15.5 million.
According to World Bank figures, Uganda’s annual per capita income was UGX 3.3 million in 2022.
Chris Obore, a spokesman for the National Assembly, said in a statement that “Parliament acknowledges concerns raised in the ongoing #UgandaParliamentExhibition on the institution.”
“In the spirit of openness, accountability, and transparency, we are duty-bound to study the specifics of all concerns and conclusively address them,” he said, without elaborating.
The #UgandaParliamentExhibition has also cast a wide net, seeking evidence of wrongdoing among both government and opposition figures.
Mathias Mpuuga, a former opposition leader in the National Assembly, was said to have received a $131,000 “service award” for his work in Parliament.
Mpuuga denies any wrongdoing, but another opposition figure who nominated Mpuuga to the parliamentary post is accusing him of abuse of office.
“If we allow that corruption to get into us, then it’s going to destroy us,” said Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, a popular singer who is also known as Bobi Wine, speaking to local broadcaster NTV last week.
“Whenever huge sums of money exchange hands … there’s something that’s being given in exchange,” he said.
