Dear Hon Joel Ssenyonyi, receive my warm greetings.
I write this letter to express my disappointment in regards your outbursts in the media in reference to the ongoing online Parliament exhibition in which you made some allegations as well as demands to the Speaker of Parliament Rt Hon Anita Among.
Part of the allegations you made was that you have not attended any Parliamentary Commission meeting since you assumed office and that you don’t know whether it has been sitting or not. You also demanded for a Commission meeting and a Parliamentary sitting to discuss several complaints raised about Parliament during the exhibition.
Hon Joel, at your level as a Leader of opposition, you have the opportunity to engage the Speaker at any time you want and raise any concerns before her in regards to the institution. You can go to her office or even call her on phone. Why would you have to call a press conference to demand for a Commission meeting? Why would you chose to run a state institution via social media? Is it just playing to the gallery or is it playing cheap politics?
You raised several concerns in regards to recruitment of staff and management of funds at Parliament. First you know that the Speaker is not the accounting officer of Parliament, she only offers political leadership while the Clerk to Parliament offers technical guidance. So do you want the Clerk or the Speaker to also call a press conference to give explanation?
Secondly you know that all the monies spent were budgeted for. If there are any issues or irregularities the Auditor General’s Report will highlight these issues and they will be subjected to scrutiny by the relevant Committees of Parliament.
But also as a lawyer, you know the right to presumption of innocence until proven guilty, it’s a non derogable right according to our constitution. Don’t you find it shabby for you to run to the media and start attacking the Speaker with whom you run Parliament together, moreover accusing her over unsubstantiated claims without even giving her a fair hearing? Is it out of hate, misplaced anger, malice or both?
Moreso, you have been Chairing COSASE in Parliament which does scrutiny of the Auditor General’s report on all government agencies and Commissions. I saw you referring to the same report in regards to its recommendations made on Parliamentary Commission. The Parliamentary Commission is also an entity whose operations and expenditures are scrutinized by COSASE which you chaired for the past two and a half years, it is quite bewildering that you never mentioned anything about the Parliamentary Commission when you had the power to oversee it’s operations. But you are now jumping to the media bandwagon to blame the Parliamentary Commission for allegedly doing mistakes which you failed to unearth! What a deception!
All in all, Parliament has its Rules of Procedure and the Administration of Parliament Act which stipulates how it is run, you cannot run it on social media or press conferences.
If you can’t learn anything, at least learn from the experience of Mathias Mpuuga’s issue and how it has divided your party leadership. Don’t expect Rt Hon Among to run Parliament as you run the National Unity Platform, where you receive a rumor that Mpuuga was given a service award and the next day you are asking him to resign!
Parliament is a platform to discuss national issues and not playing dirty and cheap politics. It is an arm of government which must run according to decorum!
George is a patriotic Ugandan
