Newsroom reporter
In a ruling that has sent former Leader of Opposition (LOP) Mathias Mpuuga’s fans into overdrive, Justice Douglas Singiza has ruled that the decision to award Mpuuga and three back-bench commissioners Shs1.7 billion was legal.
The court ruled that the decision to pay them was legal because it was approved by Parliament and formed part of the budget presented by the Executive.
Singiza, however, called for disciplinary action against Parliament’s Clerk, Adolf Mwesige, regarding the service award.
In a ruling dated August 12, 2024, Singiza of the Civil Division of the High Court ordered the permanent secretary/secretary to the Treasury to institute disciplinary proceedings against Mwesigye within 12 months over his involvement in the contested service award.
“In this case, the clerk both participated in the decision and proceeded to make payment,” the judge noted.
The judge said that given the evident dereliction of duty by the Clerk of Parliament during the decision-making and implementation process on the impugned service awards, he is personally responsible under sections 43(8), 76, and 77 of the Public Finance Management Act.
“It was a dereliction of duty for the Clerk to Parliament to have failed or neglected to detect such an obviously flawed process. Even if an accounting officer does not participate in a decision-making process, as the paying officer, he or she has all the legal powers to decline to make payment, which is procedurally improper,” he noted.
Parliament awarded Shs 500 million to Mpuuga, Shs 400 million to the backbench commissioners Solomon Silwany (Bukooli County Central MP), Prossy Mbabazi (Rubanda District Woman MP), and Esther Afoyochan (Zombo District Woman MP).
A concerned citizen, Daniel Bwete, had sued the Parliamentary Commission, arguing that the service award was illegal.
In his ruling, the judge noted, “The money used to pay the service award was part of the national budget. The argument of conflict of interest is, therefore, not sustainable given that, in terms of Section 42 of the Administration of the Parliament Act, the allowances of members of the Parliamentary Commission are determined by the Commission with the approval of Parliament,” he ruled.
The judge ruled that the services envisaged in Section 29 of the Administration of the Parliament Act (AOPA) are those connected with the actual services rendered in terms of Sections 19 and 6(a) of the same Act.
“Should the Clerk to Parliament give advice that is fundamentally erroneous, he or she may be sued for negligence,” he said.
The court explained that LOP benefits are determined under Section 12(2) of the Administration of the Parliament Act (AOPA) as those of a Cabinet minister. For the commissioners, Section 42 AOPA provides that commissioners shall be paid such allowances as the commission may determine with the approval of Parliament.
Mpuuga delighted
An elated Mpuuga told the press, “The Court, in its powers, decided that some right thinking Ugandans and those who have been following the discussion that any MP that doesn’t understand the processes of Parliament is just a burden to taxpayers. The court’s ruling is what we said from the start: that all these matters were handled legally. Individually, this issue has been capitalised on by many people to disrespect me, but I want to thank all Ugandans who stood with me.”
“All those people that have been backstabbing me, I wait to see what they are going to tell the nation about me, but in all this, I will continue fulfilling my responsibility, and I won’t waste my efforts on people that have been wasting my time. They have harmed me for the past 8 months by focussing all their energy on me as an individual, but that is how things are now. I will be informing the nation of my next step.” Mpuuga added
Dr. Singiza’s decision comes at a time when MPs opposed to the service award led by Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo have collected more than enough signatures to table a motion to censure them as commissioners.
