KAMPALA-UGANDA/ NEWSDAY: The National Unity Platform leader, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine has said the parliamentary building has been turned into a “filthy temple of corruption and unabashed deal-cutting”.
His stack criticism come hours after Bukoto South MP Dr Twaha Kagabo was detained by the Inspector General of Government-IGG over attempting to return Shs. 40 million the legislator alleges was given to him by Speaker Anita Among for unknown reasons.
“Recently, the country woke up to reports of a grand bribery scheme at the Parliament of Uganda out of which each Member of Parliament allegedly pocketed Shs.40M. Apparently, the MPs were paid this money to ‘motivate’ them into irregularly passing a supplementary budget smuggled into Parliament just moments before the 2022/2023 budget reading. The regime Spokesperson eventually confirmed these reports as true”, Bobi Wine wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
He added that his party sought clarity on the matter and “we interacted with MPs from the National Unity Platform. Some of them admitted and confessed to us that the Speaker of Parliament Ms. Annet Anita Among had personally handed over the money to them.”
“They said that Ms. Anita Among had paid them the money in cash — probably to avoid leaving a paper trail — at her residence in Nakasero opposite the Court of Appeal. We advised them to return it to her because anything short of that would be total betrayal of the voters who put them in office, and the values that NUP stands for.
On Monday, Dr Kagabo told newsmen he received the money and was offering to return it.
” It is upon that basis that yesterday, he was advised by the leader of our Parliamentary Team Rt. Hon. Matthias Mpuuga to return the money to Speaker Anita Among from whom he publicly confessed to have received it. However, no sooner had he stepped out of the offices at Parliament heading to Speaker Among’s home than he was arrested by Parliamentary police who, then, handed him over to the Inspector General of Government to face charges of ‘extortion’.” Bobi Wine said.
He added that the arrest of Kagabo was suspicious and curious.
“It would not be far-fetched to say that by arresting Hon. Kagabo, the office of the IGG is being misused to unfairly shield Speaker Anita Among from public scrutiny and potential prosecution for corruption and abuse of office. Under her vindictive leadership, the hallowed parliamentary building has been turned into a filthy temple of corruption and unabashed deal-cutting.”
Wine claimed citing examples that anybody who stands in Among’s way is summarily dealt with either by the Parliamentary administration she heads or by other national institutions such as the police force.
“When Hon. Zaake stood up to her, she mobilised and bought off some MPs to impeach him. Recently, parliamentary staff suspected of leaking details of the scam in which over Shs. 2bn was used to buy her a luxury vehicle were terminated from their jobs. She is now using the IGG to persecute Hon. Kagabo for publicly disclosing her personal involvement in the Shs.40M bribe scheme. How much longer should the Speaker continue getting away with this kind of impunity!?”
Wine urgued the IGG to avoid bias but instead investigate this issue with the fairness and impartiality it deserves.
” Any accusation of corruption levelled against the Speaker of Parliament must be acknowledged and thoroughly investigated instead of persecuting the complainants. Speaker Anita Among is not above the law!”
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