It’s almost the second months of collecting signatures enough to impeach Parliamentary Commissioners Alleged is Service Award money. Members of Parliament (MPs) fronting the censure motion against four parliamentary commissioners have pitched camp in the West Nile sub-region to collect the remaining six signatures from their colleagues in the area.
Credit: The Explorer
On Wednesday, July 10, 2024, Theodore Ssekikubo, the Lwemiyaga County legislator and the lead petitioner, while in Arua City, said out of 39 MPs in the West Nile Subregion, only 13 have signed the motion.
The troubled commissioners include Rubanda District Woman MP Prossy Akampurira, MP Mathias Mpuuga, MP Solomon Silwanyi, and MP Esther Afoyochan. They are accused of awarding themselves over Shs1.7 billion as service awards.
Recently, MP Akampurira, while in Rubanda, confessed how she received and used the money, a move that irritated her electorate, who had been demanding accountability and justification of what she used the money for.
Akampurira has in recent months been facing humiliation from her voters who have continued to question her integrity with little impact on the grounds.
MP Ssekikubo said they have so far collected 171 signatures out of the required 177 to bring the motion to the floor of parliament.
He said the move is to enhance accountability and support the fight against corruption in Parliament.
They applauded President Museveni for directly supporting their efforts to gather signatures.
He said Museveni recently distanced himself from the claim that he had warned legislators against supporting the censure motion.
The MPs have been gathering signatures across the country, with the West Nile region being a key area where they are still short of the necessary support.
The group has stayed in West Nile now for nine days with the movers of the motion, including Ssekikubo, Odria Arion of Aringa South, and Rose Obigah of Terego, urging their colleagues not to be intimidated by calls to stop signing the motion.
They have also asked the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, to use her office to call all MPs back from recess and support the motion.
Yorke Alioni Odria, the MP for Aringa South County in Yumbe district, maintains that the move is not to fight their colleagues but to tackle corruption in the country.
The MPs are expected to travel to the Lango and Acholi sub-regions in the coming days to collect additional signatures from their colleagues who are currently on recess.