Nakawa West MP Joel Ssenyonyi has accused Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among of attempts to censure him for alleged “indiscipline” and “disobeying” her orders.
“I’m told Speaker Anita Among called some of my committee members to her office and asked them to start a censure motion against me for “indiscipline” and “disobeying” Speaker’s orders,” Mr Ssenyonyi said on Saturday.
During the Uganda Airlines inquiry, the National Unity Platform (NUP) spokesperson who chairs Parliament’s Committee on State Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) claimed on Saturday that the Speaker wrote to him a letter “guiding” his committee to lock the media out.
“I wrote back to her expressing discomfort because there was nothing too sensitive to keep away from the public. Besides, other entities were also investigated publicly,” Mr Ssenyonyi tweeted on Saturday alongside a letter purportedly written by the Bukedea Woman MP to him.
In the said letter, Ms Among is quoted as saying” “I have been following the commendable progress of PAC-COSASE in the consideration of the Auditor General’s report for Financial Year ended June 2021. Whereas Your inquiry into the audit queries of the Uganda National Airlines Company Ltd has elicited significant public attention, I am cognisant of the sensitivity of some of the matters under consideration and its potential ramification on operations of the entity. While the audit process is integral in streamlining operations of the public entities, there is need for a careful balance between accountability and business continuity. I therefore, guide that the committee adopts closed door proceedings in its inquiry into the operations of Uganda National Airlines Company Ltd.”
According to Mr Ssenyonyi, the Speaker is trying to protect Uganda Airlines managers from public scrutiny.
“From trying to protect them from public scrutiny to now sitting on the report, one day the truth behind will surface! By the way, in this letter she appreciated COSASE for “commendable” work we’re doing, she only changed her mind when I kept asking about the report. Meantime, we’ll keep doing our work. Next week we embark on an investigation into Parliament (The Parliamentary Commission falls under COSASE),” he added.
Mr Ssenyonyi’s accusations come just days after the Speaker accused his comittee (Cosase) of laziness, saying they had only probed five government entities out of 107 reports submitted by the Aditor General, Mr John Muwanga.
“And I don’t want to say shame on us the House but shame on you Cosase. It’s you people who have failed. We have invested a lot of money in the committee but we have not got results,” Ms Among said during Wednesday plenary session, adding that the House had six months to consider and pronounce itself on the report.
According to her, the six months have passed but the reports are not ready.
” Even if we gave you an additional one year you may not be able to finish. And based on that, we are going to adopt all the reports that are pending under Cosase because the committee headed by the Leader of Opposition has failed to produced what we expected of them but we need t help this country,” she added.
Consequently, the Speaker ordered for a value-for-money audit on Cosase following what she termed as “failure” on the part of the committee to produced timely reports, which she said was also an indictment on the House.
According to Parliament’s director, communication and public affairs, Chris Obore, the speaker’s directive for investigation into Cosase arises from concerns about the disparity of the performance of the public accounts committees of Parliament.
“The Speaker’s concerns about the performance of the committee arise from a comparative analysis of the performance of the Public Accounts Committees of parliament since May 2021,” Mr Obore said in a Thursday statement.
The committee on Public Accounts (Local Government) has, since May 2021 to date, produced 87 reports; the committee on Public Accounts (Central Government) has produced over 35 reports; and the committee on Cosase has produced five reports, according to Mr Obore.
It should be noted that Mr Ssenyonyi has in the recent past raised dust about Parliament’s failure to debate the reports his committee had so far handled, particularly the controversial Uganda Airlines report. He accused the Speaker of playing delaying tactics by not considering the report over unclear reasons.
Mr Ssenyonyi also queried the motive of the speaker to meet with some of the airlines officials, especially its chief executive officer, Ms Jenifer Bamuturaki who he said had been pinned by the findings of his probe.
Other entities that COSASE has so far handled include the Uganda Railways Corporation, Uganda Land Commission and Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA).
Amuru Woman MP, Ms Akello Lucy, deputizes Mr Ssenyonyi. The committee is comprised of 45 members, some of them include; Mbwatekamwa Gaffa (Igara West County), Afoyochan Esther (Zombo District Woman MP), Dan Kimosho (Kazo County), Charles Bakkabulindi (Workers’ representative), Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga County), Elijah Okupa (Kasilo County), Bashir Kazibwe Mbazira (Kawempe South), Joyce Bagala Ntwatwa among others.
