A senior leader in the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) has directed party MPs not to sign the censure motion for Commissioner Mathias Mpuuga and others who awarded themselves cash awards totaling to Shs1.7bn until President Yoweri Museveni, the party chairman, has given his decision on the matter.
NRM Parliamentary Caucus Vice Chairperson Herbert Kinobere, who is also the Kibuku County MP, has told reporters at Parliament in Kampala that President Museveni’s guidance will become the party’s decision on the matter and if they will append their signatures to the censure motion or not.
Kinobere said the Government Chief Whip Hamson Obua was awaiting the guidance of the president before he can guide fellow MPs on how to go about the matter.
In the likely case that Museveni guides against the signing of the censure motion, Kinobere continued, the NRM MPs who have signed will have to erase their names and signatures.
“I earlier guided members that they should wait for the guidance of my boss, who is the Government Chief Whip [Hamson Obua], he also went ahead and guided that no member of the NRM caucus should sign on the censure forms until we get the guidance of the national Chairman, who is also President Museveni,” said Kinobere.
“There are those who have signed, still when we sit as caucus, we shall have to ask them to withdraw their signatures because as a Party, we always come up with a position and we always stand by our position.”
He also asked NRM Voters to let their MPs do their work and not to punish them for declining to append their signatures to the censure motion.
“We all have voters and our voters will have to appreciate because they are NRM. I know they respect the NRM ideology. I know the Principal will guide further on those who have signed but as NRM, we are waiting for the guidance of the National Chairman which caucus will be called soon and we shall be updating the House on what next,” said Kinobere.
He went on to say that the NRM does “rush” when allegations of corruption, abuse of office and extravagant expenditure like those against Anita Among’s parliament come up, but rather prefer to “investigate and find out the source and the cause.”
He added, “As a party, we have been aware of [the allegations] and we knew we were going to find a way on how best we can handle it.”
Kinobere that there was “pressure” from motion mover Theodore Ssekikubo of Lwemiyaga County to have the matter expeditiously handled, there was no need to rush.
“When we call the caucus, they [Ssekikuubo and others] will have to come because they belong to the Party and they also have to give us an explanation as to why they are doing that,” he noted.
Plans to censure Mpuuga and his fellow commissioners began last week. (See Details Here).
Corruption at Parliament and by MPs elsewhere in government has prompted sanctions against the speaker. (See Details Here and There).
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