Speaker Among directs Parliamentary legal department to sue The Observer newspaper

Speaker Anita Among has ordered Parliament’s Legal Department to sue The Observer Newspaper, accusing the media house of sowing seeds of hatred amongst Ugandans to hate their Parliament.

She made the remarks while citing the Observer’s recent story which highlighted that some MPs received bribes from agencies in order to save them from being abolished or mainstreamed back to their mother Ministries.

“These allegations of saying MPs were bribed must stop, nobody was bribed people did legislation on their own, how can you bribe the whole House who are willing to even put up their hands to vote? I am going to ask our legal officer to take up this case because you can’t tarnish the integrity of my members, because no member was bribed to fail any RAPEX bill. Whatever didn’t go through, it was a consensus,” said Among.

The Speaker revealed that some of the agencies cited in the media reports that are accused of bribing MPs included; Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), National Information and Technology Authority (NITA), Uganda Coffee (UCDA) and Cotton Development Authority.

However, she denied the accusations brought against MPs saying all the decisions taken in Parliament on RAPEX bills were done to serve the interest of Ugandans.

“And I want to tell the Executive and whoever is alleging this, MPs legislated for their people. Like yesterday UNRA, it was a consensus, we even had the Minister concede, even the Minister of Public Service, Muruli Mukasa conceded. So why should we be blamed for what we are doing? We are here to legislate for our people.”

She noted that when one looks inside the full story there is nothing, wondering what the media house wants to achieve apart from sowing seeds of hatred amongst Ugandans, to hate their Parliament.

According to The Observer’s story published on April 24,2024, sources interviewed indicate that members of parliament (MPs) have allegedly received bribes ranging from Shs 500,000 to Shs 2 million, to advocate for the retention of certain agencies that the government had proposed to return to their mother ministries.

Observer said these agencies, facing the prospect of being phased out, have been actively lobbying MPs to support their continued existence.

The financial incentives reportedly come from influential figures within both the government and parliament, aiming to sway MPs in favour of retaining these agencies.

The Newspaper writes that reports of bribing MPs to carry out their duties have been rampant in recent years.

While paying tribute to former Dokolo Woman MP, Cecilia Ogwal, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni acknowledged reports that some MPs were soliciting bribes from entities appearing before them.