Mercy Nalugo and Richard Wanambwa
7 November 2008
Parliament yesterday absolved Finance Minister Ezra Suruma and Security Minister Amama Mbabazi of any wrongdoing in the controversial Shs11 billion NSSF-Temangalo deal, but the decision was marked by a protest walkout by the opposition legislators.
The exoneration of the two ministers followed a unanimous endorsement by ruling party MPs of four amendments to recommendations of both the main and the minority NSSF probe reports, which directly cleared the ministers on counts of influence peddling and conflict of interest.
Leader of the Opposition Ogenga Latigo led the walk out after Parliament upheld a statement by Attorney General Khiddu Makubuya which suggested that the committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises did not have the legal mandate to investigate the two ministers because Parliament does not have the power to enforce the Leadership Code Act.
Trouble began after Mr Adolf Mwesige, the minister for general duties in the Prime Minister's office, moved a motion to amend the probe reports arguing that Mr Mbabazi and Dr Suruma had no case to answer since there was no evidence to prove that the two men controlled or directly participated in the purchase of the Temangalo land or whether they peddled influence. "The committee had no jurisdiction to investigate, make findings and decisions on the alleged breaches of the leadership code within the meaning of article 234 of the constitution and section 3 of the leadership code," said Mr Mwesige.
Dr Makubuya, who on Wednesday had been tasked by Speaker Edward Ssekandi to come up with an interpretation of the law on whether Parliament or a Parliamentary committee has the mandate or jurisdiction to enforce the Leadership Code Act, said although the committee "acted in good faith" in conducting inquiry it lacked the mandate to make conclusions based on the code.
Dr Makubuya said only the office of the Inspector General of Government had the mandate to enforce the Act under Article 234 of the Constitution. Prof. Latigo shot up in protest and said Mr Makubuya's interpretation was based on "error." "The committee is empowered to carry out specific functions under the parliamentary rules of procedure. The attorney general is wrong," he said.
Kampala Central MP Erias Lukwago backed Prof. Latigo, telling MPs that the AG's opinion was not binding to Parliament. "The AG is the chief legal adviser to Cabinet. Parliament is an independent institution," Mr Lukwago said. But Mr Ssekandi ruled otherwise. "When we talk about government, Parliament is part of government. If the AG is the legal adviser of government, he is entitled to advising Parliament as well," he said.
Bugweri County MP Abdu Katuntu said the committee was empowered by Article 90 and Rule 154 of the rules of procedure to investigate the matter.
Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Ssekikubo wondered, "But why should the AG belittle Parliament by saying the committee merely acted in good faith? Where does that leave Parliament?" Chwa County MP Livingstone Okello Okello said the AG's interpretation was a cover up for the two ministers even though an offence was committed.
Rubanda West MP Henry Banyenzaki and his Makindye East counterpart Michael Mabikke suggested that Parliament refers the matter to the IGG but Mr Ssekandi said interested individuals could do that.
Mr Mwesige further angered the opposition MPs when he said since the land was encumbered, the sellers should be given two months to clear the bonafide occupants. But this prompted Prof. Latigo to say, "We feel there are urgent matters we should consult over. We request to take leave so that we consult."
At that point, the opposition MPs walked out. Moments later, the one-sided House then adopted amendments to the report, and absolved the ministers in the process.
The amendments signalled the end of two months of inquest into the deal, and gave the two ministers a new lease of political life. The decision reflected a position that had already been taken by the NRM Caucus on Monday during a meeting chaired by President Yoweri Museveni.
Yesterday's parliamentary decision also absolved NSSF top management of any wrongdoing in the deal. Mr Mbabazi said last evening that he was happy the matter was finally over. "I feel good," said Mr Mbabazi, "This whole thing which had been an attempt to frame me has come to a conclusion."
Prof. Latigo later addressed a press conference and said Parliament had been manipulated to cover up a scandal. Flanked by MPs - Okello Okello, Cecilia Ogwal and Jimmy Akena, Prof. Latigo said the opposition would not sit back and see workers money swindled. "We will be compelled to take other avenues. We are going to petition court," Prof. Latigo told reporters.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
This is a political circus in Kampala that passes for parliamentary democracy. The parliament even doesn't seem to agree on, let alone understand, the basic rules of procedure in parliamentary debates if you called this a debate. Irony of all ironies that it is this Latigo with the Okellos who, after grabbing power from the elected government of their cousin Obote, handed the country to despotic Museveni during the 1985 Nairobi Peace Talks that were rightly called Jokes. These Ugandan fools have come full circle. It is chicken coming home to roost the Ugandan style. Now what is the oppositions going to do when they see corruption staring at them with impunity and all the country watching. These thugs in NRM are daylight robbers.
More contemporarily today there are similar talks or more appropriately jokes about crisis at the mineral rich eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The same actors are at it again. Museveni (his mother was Tutsi from Rwanda) and his Tutsi cousins in Kigali, Bujumbura, and Goma have wrecked enough havoc in the Great Lakes Region. It is high time the international community stepped up to the plate and stopped this fascistic destabilization agenda at empire building that has killed millions upon millions of people. For Congo watch out for these thugs: notice how they have established an entrenched dictatorship in Uganda. It is the same actors (Kagame was a general in Museveni's Army before he matched to Rwanda) hell bent on the same agenda of building a Tutsi empire. Soon they will, as they marched to Uganda's capital Kampala during similar talks or jokes, march to Kinshasa's outskirts if they aren't there already.
Little Rwanda may enventually swallow the big DR Congo. That would make the late Kabila Sr - the father of current Congo's president - turn in his grave since he used to avow that it was an improbable impossibility.
Rwanda (and Uganda with simlar problems with LRA) is using the existence of Hutu militia in Eastern Congo as an excuse to destabilise DR Congo with the express intention of establishing a Tutsi counsin in power in Kinshasa.