The National Unity Platform (NUP) has asked Masaka Municipality MP Mathias Mpuuga to resign from his position as parliamentary commissioner following his admission to receiving 500 million shillings.
On Thursday, President Robert Kyagulanyi, the NUP Party president convened a meeting with senior party leaders after corruption allegations surfaced against several NUP officials, including Mpuuga, the former Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, and other commissioners, according to a statement released by the NUP secretariat.
The allegations implicated Mpuuga and other commissioners in irregularly allocating large sums of money to themselves under the guise of service awards, with Mpuuga reportedly receiving 500 million shillings.
The NUP press statement, indicated that the senior legislator Mpuuga admitted to have been part in the said allocation of money and apologized for the same.
“At the meeting, Rt. Hon. Mpuuga admitted that he indeed took part in this wrongdoing and apologized for the same. In light of this, he was strongly advised that the moral thing to do in the circumstances is to step down from his role as parliamentary commissioner with immediate effect,” reads part of the statement.
“The nation will recall that the values of the National Unity Platform are discipline, reliability, inclusiveness, integrity, patriotism, and service. All actions of corruption and abuse of office go contrary to these values.”
For the past four days, internet has been awash with an online protest led by Makerere Don, Dr. Spire Ssentongo, and other activists using the hashtag #Uganda Parliament Exhibition to expose the abuse of office and gross management of public affairs in Parliament.
In the exhibition, several allegations have been made against the speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, and Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, as well as the ruling NRM Members of Parliament and the opposition MPS.
Among the allegations made include these top officials fraudulently lobbying for their relatives to secure jobs in Parliament and engaging in corruption deals to unlawfully enrich themselves.
On Monday, Chris Obore, Director of Communication and Public Affairs said that Parliament had acknowledged the exhibition and said that they were actively studying the specific concerns raised.
“Parliament acknowledges concerns raised in the ongoing #UgandaParliamentExhibition on the institution. Though the discussion is laden with distortions, in the spirit of openness, accountability, and transparency, we are duty-bound to study the specifics of all concerns and conclusively address them.” reads a statement Obore posted on X (Former Twitter).