By Making his remarks came as he addressed legislators at the presentation of the Opposition Alternative Budget Priority Areas at Parliament on Monday March 31,The National Unity Platform (NUP)president, Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu, strongly criticized Uganda’s Parliament, calling it a hub of corruption.
Kyagulanyi accused the House, which should be at the forefront of fighting corruption, of instead enabling and promoting it. He particularly referenced the recent corruption scandals, including allegations that Speaker Anita Among siphoned billions of shillings and the controversial Shs1.7 billion service award to former Leader of Opposition (LoP) Mathias Mpuuga and three backbench National Resistance Movement (NRM) Parliamentary commissioners.
Over the past year, Speaker Anita Among’s leadership has faced accusations of financial mismanagement and questionable allocations of funds. The controversial service award given to Mpuuga and other commissioners was widely condemned by both opposition and ruling party members, fueling public outrage over unchecked government spending.
“It is in this Parliament that we saw the Speaker siphoning billions of money. It is in this Parliament that the Leader of Opposition was awarded a service award before even working. Young people rose up against corruption in this House, but they were arrested and allegedly subjected to inhumane treatment for simply standing against evil,” Kyagulanyi said.
He also cited a recent statement by the Inspector General of Government (IGG), who estimated that Uganda loses about Shs10 trillion annually to corruption, attributing the theft to a small elite group of around 35,000 individuals out of Uganda’s 45.9 million citizens.
