Although she is not among the politicians and officials named in the alleged grand corruption, abuse of office, embezzlement and diversion of funds at Parliament of Uganda, Rakai District Woman MP Juliet Kinyamatama Suubi has found herself in an awkward situation for appearing to condone corruption after she suggested that it was okay for Cissy Namujju to steal provided she shared the loot with her electorate.
Kinyamatama, aged just 36, is not new to controversy. Her complaint over the manner in which Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake Butebi of the main National Unity Platform (NUP) party addressed her in ways she considered inappropriate was a subject of a parliamentary hearing with legal representatives for both sides facing off.
For the latest controversy, Kinyamatama might not have thought that her statements at the launch of the Ssentaayi Foundation in Lwengo District at the weekend could have sparked off a new anti-corruption campaign following up on damning allegations of graft in Parliament of Uganda.
Speaking at the launch attended by some MPs, Kinyamatama urged the audience to give a round of applause to Cissy Namujju, the Lwengo District Woman MP, for sharing with them the money she is accused of stealing.
Namujju is on remand over her role in a corruption scandal in which she and two other MPs are accused of asking for part of the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) budget as a condition for them to push through an increase of the commission’s budget in a committee of parliament.
Kinyamatama was not the only MP who seemed to back Namujju. Speaker Anita Among, the Bukedea District Woman MP, defended ‘a child who steals and brings some of the loot back home,’ while Kashambya County’s David Kabanda encouraged Lwengo’s electorate, telling them that their MP’s woes would soon end.
Now, advocacy group Agora Discourse has announced the #TextTheThief campaign to call out corrupt MPs and bombard them with text messages condemning their involvement in corruption or condoning the act.
“Following statements made over the weekend in Lwengo by the Speaker, MP Kabanda, and Kinyamatama defending a corrupt MP who is in prison, we are launching a campaign as part of the taxpayer’s online protest against the grand endorsement of corruption. We urge taxpayers to call the phone numbers of Kinyamatama, Anita Among, Kabanda, Mpuuga, and the four commissioners who partook in the Service Award Cash Bonanza,” read a social media statement from Agora.
“We urge taxpayers to call, flood their WhatsApp and emails in hundreds every day, demanding to know why they took public money and are openly endorsing corruption. We also urge taxpayers to take screenshots and share on X with hashtag #TextTheThief. #UgandaParliamentExhibition. Taxpayers should publicly question their actions, record these interactions, and share online.”
Going by the group’s strategy director Dr Jimmy Spire Ssentongo’s belief that “Disturbing the Peace of the Oppressor is a moral and patriotic duty,” Agora has shared the mobile numbers of the MPs and urged Ugandans to do that patriotic duty: disturb the peace of the corrupt.
President Yoweri Museveni has previously claimed that foreign agents give those exposing government corruption and inefficiencies – and damaging government’s good image, according to the president – a lot of money through awards. The EU has responded to Museveni’s claim. (See Details Here).
TO CRUSH OR MASSAGE: Museveni & Speaker Anita Among Speak in Confusing Tongues on Corruption Fight
