KAMPALA- The Lwemiyaga County MP, Theodore Ssekikuubo says the court ruling in the 1.7 billion shillings service award has not erased his censure motion against the Parliamentary Commissioners.
Justice Douglas Karekona Singiza, of the Civil Division of the High Court in Kampala early on Tuesday ruled that the five hundred million shillings (500,000,000) paid to the former Leader of the Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga and three other Commissioners as a service award was approved by Parliament and formed part of the budget presented by the executive.
The judge in effect exonerated three other commissioners who each received four hundred million shillings. The court said the Parliamentary Commission did not breach any law by awarding the Commissioners the services award. Mathias Mpuuga using his X, formerly Twitter, welcomed the ruling over the matter that has been under discussion over the last eight months.
However, as parliament sat on Tuesday Theodore Ssekikuubo who has been at the forefront of collecting signatures for the censure of Mpuuga and three other backbench commissioners said their motion was still standing despite the ruling of the High Court.
“We are seeing in the media hype that a particular court has sat and we are going on record, it hasn’t erased our motion, it is still standing. Our prayers are different from those raised in the ruling and therefore, it can’t be affected by the court ruling. May we know as petitioners, when the notice is due to be issued so that we can prepare accordingly,” stated Ssekikuubo, as he demanded that their motion be placed on the order paper for debate.
The other MPs facing censure are, Akampurira Prosy, MP, District Woman Representative, Rubanda County Constituency; Solomony Silwany, MP, Bukooli County, Central Bugiri District, Constituency and Prosy Afoyochan, MP, District Woman Representative, Zombo District.
Ssekikuubo said the censure motion was submitted to the office of the Speaker of Parliament on 5 August 2024. “And right now it is 13th August, we expected under our rules of procedure rule 110 by this time to have issued a notice to members of Parliament so that we know when this matter is coming up for debate,” said Ssekikuubo.
While it appears as if Justice Douglas Karekona Singiza has let Mpuuga and three others off the hook, he issued an obiter dictum proposing a salary and Emoluments Review Board Bill to regulate and harmonize emoluments and allowances, aiming to prevent abuse of power and ensure responsible management of public funds at the Parliament of Uganda.
His ruling was in response to an application by Bwette Daniel for judicial review seeking declaratory orders to the effect that the decision dated May 6, 2022, to award the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mathias Mpuuga) UGX 500,000,000 and the three other Commissioners UGX 400,000,000 each, under the guise of a so-called service award, was ultra vires, illegal, oppressive, arbitrary, biased, high-handed, irrational, unfair, and therefore null and void.
