Kampala, Uganda. In the past three weeks, the Parliament of Uganda, our nation’s second most valued institution, has weathered storm after storm of controversy and scrutiny.
Well, as debates and accusations rage and decisions are made, the line between genuine accountability and perceived witch-hunts, has continuously faded.
With that, it’s time to cut through the noise, expose the truth, and ultimately restore integrity to our democratic foundation as Ugandans.
A group of people, under the Agora Discourse, initiated the ‘Parliament Exhibition’ unveiling numerous accounts alleging the misappropriation of funds within the institution.
Well, the exhibition started with the Speaker of Parliamen-Anita Among and swiftly escalated to implicate several senior leaders, including the immediate former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament-Matias Mpuuga, who were branded as corrupt and fraudulent.
This condemnation followed the decision of the Parliamentary Commission, the institution’s highest decision-making body, to grant a Service Award of up to Ugx500 million for his oversight of government programs during his tenure of two and a half years in the same role.
As leaks continued to emerge from within the parliament, also attention turned to the staff of this legislative body. Many confirmed their authenticity while some, including the Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Chris Obore refuted the leaks claiming they were false.
Several allegations were also levelled against the Commissioners, Directors, and other personnel within the Directorate of Public Affairs.
On re-examining issues raised by the exhibition, it was established that there were some unprecedented allocations of huge tunes of taxpayers’ money within the house.
For example, when a staff member responsible for a particular activity requires funding from the Public Relations and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) budgets, they make a funding request through the finance directorate and their supervisors.
Subsequently, the funds are transferred to the individual’s account to facilitate the activity promptly. Then, they are obligated to furnish a detailed account of the expenditure, accompanied by evidence of the completed activities, as mandated by the Public Finance Management Act.
According to the law, an accounting officer is mandated to authorise any commitments made by a vote and oversee the resources received, held, or disposed of on behalf of a vote.
“In exercise of the duties under this Act, an Accounting Officer shall, in respect of all resources and transactions of a vote, put in place effective systems of risk management, internal control and internal audit,” the act states.
Furthermore, the Act specifies that an accounting officer has the power to delegate the function or responsibility as outlined in the act to a public officer who is under their supervision and control.
One of the officers in the office of the Chief Accounting Officer of Parliament explains that based on this whole framework, the funds have frequently been allocated to various staff members under their control to effectively oversee activities on behalf of Parliament.
“However, the Accounting Officer remains with the resolute powers to direct and account for such funds to meet their intended objective,” the officer adds.
Well, several media reports have highlighted that over USD4 million (approximately Ugx15.6 billion) was allocated to various accounts held by staff at Parliament within the past nine months.
However, this website has verified that all funds received by staff were utilised effectively for their designated activities, with corresponding accountabilities submitted to the relevant authorities and subsequently verified and approved.
District Local Governments across the country, as well as Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs), including the Office of the Prime Minister, have also employed a similar system.
Large sums of money have been disbursed to individual accounts for planned activities, with subsequent accountability handled by various officers involved.
Auditor General Intervention
Following these relentless implications, the Auditor General investigated the matters and confirmed that the expenditure was legal and meticulously accounted for by the Parliament of Uganda.
However, impeccable sources with Parliament have raised doubt about the authenticity of the documentation being distributed by the initiators of the Parliament Exhibition, saying they lack a solid foundation and tarnish the credibility of the parliament.
“Such documentation must always be stamped and certified. The documents they share lack authenticity manifests on them,” the source said.
With a budget of up to Ugx900 billion, the Parliament Exhibition focused exclusively on a fraction of the funds, amounting to less than Ugx13.5 billion, which is managed by the offices of the Speaker and Public Affairs.
This selective focus, however, has raised concerns about accountability across other departments within the institution, which have not been subject to similar scrutiny.
Why staff at Parliament? Is it a witch-hunt?
Highly placed sources within the organisers of the Exhibition have disclosed to this website that the primary focus of the exhibition was on the highest-ranking officials in Parliament. This included individuals such as the Speaker, Deputy Speaker, Clerk to Parliament, and the Leader of the Opposition.
While the discussions and considerations involving the offices of the Speaker, Clerk, and Leader of the Opposition were brought to light during the exhibition, it has been revealed that the team encountered difficulties in obtaining information from the office of the Deputy Speaker.
Conflict of interest
One of the most shocking leaks originated from one of the exhibitors – Agather Atuhaire, a well-known journalist, lawyer, and social justice activist known for her advocacy for human rights, public accountability, and the rule of law.
The exhibition revealed that the speaker received over Ugx2.4 billion in a space of 39 days. The money that was received by Daniel Adilo and Emmanuel Okwi Emuron was reportedly meant to cater to field mobilisation activities, her outreach activities, community consultation activities, and others.
It also showed that she pocketed, per diem, Ugx2.6 billion for the eight trips she made out of the country between September 2023 and January 2024. She also received a per diem of Ugx646 million between July 2022 and July 2023.
In a period of four days from October 11, 2023, to October 16, 2023, Ugx2,673,000,000 was put into a personal bank account, which included that of Chris Obore, the Director of Communications at Parliament.
But Speaker-Among declined to respond to what she called hearsay and rumour-mongering. “We are not going to run this house on rumour-mongering.”
However, it has come to light that the leader of the Parliamentary Exhibition, Atuhaire, had a conflict of interest in leaking an unfounded document. This is due to her relationship with Robinson Kaweesa, the father of her child, who was retired on Public Interest grounds.
Allegations suggest that he breached confidentiality by sharing sensitive information about the contracts committee of Parliament during the tenure of the late Speaker Jacob Oulanyah.
It is also speculated that Atuhaire may have kept the resentment following her unsuccessful application for a position in the August House a few years ago. She had sought to become the Senior Press Secretary for one of the Principals in Parliament.
“With Agather Atuhaire leading the exhibition and with the alleged bias, it leaves questions lingering on whether it is about public accountability or, it is about the anger a zeal of one person trying to satisfy the quench of failing to get a job at Parliament and that of the husband,” says one of the MPs who asked not to be named for fear of being attacked by tweeps.
Upon completion of the maligning campaign, Ronald Egesa Leonard, one of the exhibitors, on March 12 wrote to the Clerk to Parliament seeking information “relating to financial operations of some staff of and the institution of Parliament of Uganda.”
Amongst the staff included Obore Chris Ariko, Ranny Ismail, Adilo Daniel and Okwi Emmanuel Emuran. Also, requested is a certified copy of all institutions, organisations and/or persons that have received funds from the office of the Speaker, the office of the Deputy Speaker, or the Institution of Parliament indicating the date of transaction, amount disbursed, mode of disbursement and the form of acknowledgement from the recipients.
“See, this is what should have been their initial approach, rather than launching a character assassination against the Institution of Parliament, only to later seek information. Will they retract their earlier statements?” the source stated.
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