Government, through its spokesperson Ofwono Opondo, has fired back at Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga to explain the ‘whereabouts’ of the missing Shs1.2bn after the head of the legislature told the media and the public to stop concentrating on the House’s Covid19 allocation and question the expenditure of money sent to the Prime Minister and the President’s Office among others.
On Thursday, Kadaga called an emergency press conference at Parliament to show how disappointed she was in President Museveni for publicly calling the Shs10bn Covid money a trap he had warned her against, and the judiciary for their ruling on an application filed by MPs Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo Municipality) and Jonathan Odur (Erute South).
“As the Commission of Parliament, we are disappointed that for two weeks now, the media, central government and the judiciary are on our back yet we execute our duties within the Constitution and I am so surprised that everyone is sticking on the Shs20 million yet we pass a lot of money here and nobody follows it,” she said, repeating almost the same words she had told MPs during plenary.
But Ofwono Opondo lashed out at Kadaga telling her that she was a bad loser who had failed to accept her mistakes, apologize and move on.
“The forced surrender of Shs 20m Covid19 dodgy money to MPs seems to be hurting Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga that she must convene a sitting to lash out. But she should always remember that they are in public office and it’s collectively our money they are seeking to spend,” Ofwono Opondo fired back.
“It’s only her who doesn’t want to see that there was an intended mischief in this 10Bn direct cash saga to MPs.”
On claims by Kadaga that MPs had spent more from their pockets to Covid19 efforts, the government mouthpiece said the legislators’ acts of ‘generosity’ should not be an excuse for them “to use underhand methods to get from the public purse.”
He then tasked Kadaga to explain where part of the Shs10bn allocation to Parliament had disappeared to. Noting that there are 439 MPs in Parliament, Opondo wondered where over Shs1bn had gone since 439 MPsX20 million translates into Shs 8.78bn.
“We should look for where it is or who took the [Shs1.22bn] balance from the 10bn,” Ofwono further stung Kadaga, suggesting that she could be fervently defending the controversial allocation to cover up the unaccounted for money.
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