Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has announced her new scheme to prove to MPs like Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi (Bobi Wine) and Nyabushozi’s Col Fred Mwesigye who returned Shs20m given to each lawmaker to fight Covid19 that what they did was pointless.
On Tuesday, Kadaga surprised Bobi Wine, Col Mwesigye, Sheema District Woman MP Jacklet Atuhairwe and others who have already returned the money to the Parliamentary Commission’s Bank of Uganda account when she announced that the rejected cash would be sent to the legislators’ Covid19 district taskforces.
“I want to inform you that anyone who returns that money, we shall actually give it to your district; so, no money will remain here, if you bring it we shall take it to your district taskforce because it was given for that purpose,” Kadaga told MPs on Tuesday, most of whom applauded her decision to have the money sent to the districts.
Kadaga had threatened to punish MPs like Bobi Wine who refused the money calling it a bribe. “As for Honorable Kyagulanyi, he has to go to the Disciplinary Committee for bringing this House into disrepute,” Kadaga told plenary last week.
The Speaker’s decision had been welcomed by MPs like Bunyole West’s James Waluswaka who noted: “On his receipt, Honorable Kyagulanyi stated that I have returned a bribe, can he explain to the country why he said that the sh20m given to MPs was a bribe? People think that this House can be bribed to carry out its mandate, he should be asked to explain.”
But Bobi’s supporters told Kadaga to stop playing with fire, calling her a disgrace to Uganda and telling her to leave MP Kyagulanyi alone because he was telling the truth.
Realising that she might not easily win the battle against the popular lawmaker, Kadaga quietly plotted to embarrass MPs who had refused the money and criticised her by ordering the Parliamentary Commission which she chairs to wire the money to the defiant members’ district taskforces in a bid to make their constituents believe that their MPs don’t care for them.
In her discussion with the Commission, Kadaga’s argument was that sending the money to the district would not only help Parliament account for the funds but would also expose the Bobi Wine group as seeking cheap popularity instead of help Ugandans in times of need. It would thus be a handy damage control method that the bold MPs would not even be allowed to oppose since some have already sent back the money.
But Tuesday night, President Yoweri Museveni seemed to pour cold water on Kadaga’s damage control success after he criticised Parliament for being selfish and revealed that she had openly told the Speaker that she had put herself and the House in a tight corner.
“It would be morally reprehensible for Members of Parliament to give themselves money for personal use when the country is in such a crisis; it’s totally unacceptable to me and the NRM. I have agreed with the Speaker, to donate that money to the district Taskforce,” the president said in his address televised from State House Nakasero. “I told the speaker that you have got yourselves into a trap. I told her now that you are already in a trap; take the money to the district task force.”
The only hope that is left for Kadaga’s and Parliament’s image is in Ugandans forgiving them as Museveni pleaded. But that is likely to depend on how the money will be used and accounted for by the district Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) and Parliament.
As it appears now, another scandal could be brewing, especially after Museveni warned that the Auditor General would probe MPs who spent the money without authorization. “[For] the ones who used the money to buy items, who authorised you to purchase for the country? You’re not a purchasing officer,” said Museveni.
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