By KT Reporter
In his capacity as the Ag LoP, Butambala County MP Muwanga Kivumbi used the Wednesday afternoon plenary session of Parliament to task the day’s presiding officer Thomas Tayebwa to respond to media reports regarding the Shs100m Easter gift which each of the MPs is supposed to have received from President YK Museveni.
Kivumbi, who is the Ag LoP for the whole week in absence of Joel Ssenyonyi, said that as head of the institution, the Speaker had a duty to clarify on such media reports and challenged Tayebwa to rise to the occasion.
Saying he wasn’t aware of the same, Tayebwa called the whole thing mere ‘street talk’ which he wasn’t prepared to legitimize. He said that he is an MP too but hadn’t got his share-and neither had anyone called him trying to alert him to go pick his. He sarcastically added that it was possible that someone had picked it and was somewhere chewing it on his behalf.
Before signaling the GCW Hamson Obua to step forward and respond to media reports since he personally had been reported in the media to have been one of the paymasters dishing out the Museveni dimes, Tayebwa peripherally referred to LoP Joel Ssenyonyi who a day earlier had publicly stated that it’s true that Shs100m had been paid out ostensibly to thank the 11th Parliament for having been very Executive-submissive so far.
The LoP also asserted that the MPs, including some traitors from his own NUP party, were being rewarded for passing the coffee law amendments besides being enticed to render generous support towards the impending revision of the UPDF Act to enable Gen Museveni re-enact the court martial jurisdiction to try civilians which was nullified by the Supreme Court earlier this year.
Tayebwa said that this recklessness by the LoP ought to be called out because there is no way the LoP and his members can be winners in any sense when the legislature, which is their place of work, is being soiled and demonized. He made it clear that as Ssenyonyi, who he didn’t directly mention by name, goes around throwing mud at the institution of Parliament, he too will get soiled along the way.
On his part, Obua didn’t overtly contradict media claims that he had presided over the dishing out of the money. He simply challenged Muwanga Kivumbi to give more details on how much he had personally received and from whom. He said that every MP is statutorily entitled to being remunerated though well-established channels and that this is applicable to all MPs including those from the opposition where Muwanga Kivumbi belongs.
Tayebwa, who immediately closed debate on the matter after Obua had thrown the ball back to Muwanga Kivumbi, suggested that the best way forward is for any concerned MP to write to the Speaker who can proceed to establish a committee of eminent legislators to inquire into such media claims. The Deputy speaker counselled that such is a more responsible way to act rather than merely becoming outspoken about the same on media platforms.
Sarah Opendi, who is always a liberal-minded back bencher from the NRM side, had earlier on attempted to shut up Muwanga Kivumbi on grounds that this was time to respond to Tayebwa’s communication from the chair which never had anything to do with the alleged Shs100m in so-called Easter gift.
But reasonable and accommodative as always, Tayebwa allowed Kivumbi to fully make out his submission because he was already mid-way and was speaking on behalf of the LoP who is a big person.
