KAMPALA – The National Executive Committee of the National Unity Platform has resolved to fire its Parliamentary Commissioner – Mathias Mpuuga from the position and replace him with Mityana Municipality MP, Zaake Francis Butebi.
The former Leader of Opposition is accused of engaging in acts of corruption and abuse of office when he, together with the NRM Parliamentary Commissioners irregularly allocated themselves 1.7 billion shillings as “Service Awards” in a meeting chaired by Ms. Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament.
Dr. Lina Zedriga Waru – Party Acting President says that although Mpuuga responded to NEC’s request to show cause why he should not be recalled from the position, he did not provide any satisfactory explanation for engaging in this grave action which goes against the mission, values and objectives of the Party.
“In particular, he did not make any attempt to respond to the specific accusations leveled against him.”
“In light of this, NEC has resolved to recall Hon. Mathias Mpuuga from the Parliamentary Commission on account of corruption, dishonesty and abuse of office, and to notify Parliament of the same,” she added in a statement.
Dr. Zedriga explained that Zaake’s nomination was informed by the fact that he was “illegally removed from that role in March 2022 in order to pave way for the grand corrupt and questionable dealings of the Parliamentary Commission that have now come to light.”
“In the coming days, the Party will initiate the relevant processes to effect this resolution.”
It should be recalled that Mpuuga scoffed at accusations based on what he called “falsehoods and terrible misapprehension of facts including basic ones.”
He says that the said money (Shs500M) was granted to him as a gratuity and therefore he cannot be accused of any crime.
“The duties and roles of the Parliamentary Commission are well stipulated in the laws of the land, and couched in basic language, an issue I shared and labored to educate my comrades with whom we interacted in an informal conversation at the party offices.”
“It is the same commission that votes funds to all political offices, including the LOP’s office. It takes care of the welfare of ordinary members and their leaders in Parliament, including determining the range of legally permissible payments, that may be salary, allowances, gratuity, honoraria, car grants among others,” he said.
Mpuuga says that the decisions of the commission are not personal but collective in nature, “and for anyone to purport to make them personal decisions of an individual is a deliberate, well-crafted malicious campaign designed for character assassination.”
