Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LOP) Joel Ssenyonyi has accused four Parliamentary Commissioners, including former LOP Mathias Mpuuga, of secretly awarding themselves an additional Shs 400 million each as a second “service award.”
The other commissioners accused are Solomon Silwany, Esther Afoyochan, and Prossy Akampulira Mbabazi.
Ssenyonyi alleges that the money was discreetly channeled through the Parliamentary SACCO “to avoid a clear paper trail” and was reportedly intended to facilitate their campaign activities ahead of the upcoming elections.
“I have been reliably informed that some weeks back, the four commissioners of Parliament received a second service award of Shs 400m each, which was channeled through the Parliamentary SACCO so as to avoid having a clear paper trail,” Ssenyonyi said.
He added that the commissioners’ camp had recently been spreading claims that he too had benefitted from the same payout, in what he calls an attempt to divert attention and justify their actions.
“These leaders, through their agents, have been spreading propaganda in the past few days that I was also given a service award,” he said.
“This is completely false, and it is meant to be a cover-up for this second service award that the Commissioners gave themselves.”
Ssenyonyi insisted he has not received any such payment and vowed to reject it if it is ever sent to his account.
“Even if they quietly send any such money to my account, I will instruct my bank to immediately return it to the sender… because such under-the-table money is illegal and irregular in every sense of the word,” he said.
The development comes months after the first controversial Shs 500 million “service award” to Mpuuga and three other NRM commissioners, which sparked public outrage and internal political tensions.
The Shs 500 million payout triggered a major fallout that saw Mpuuga removed from his position as Leader of the Opposition and stripped of his role as NUP president for the Buganda region.
The dispute later escalated, prompting Mpuuga to quit the National Unity Platform (NUP) and form his own political outfit, the Democratic Front.
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