By Spy Uganda
The Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, has said the House is investigating circumstances under which a committee report due to be presented was leaked to the media.
Among says some Members of Parliament have involved themselves in leaking committee reports before they are presented to the House, something she can’t tolerate any more.
She cited the Public Accounts Committee – Committee on Commissions Statutory Authorities and State Enterprise (COSASE) headed by Nakawa West legislator Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi.
In August and September 2022, COSASE investigated the operations of Uganda Airlines especially its recruitment processes, salary scales, and allegations of corruption but before the report was presented on the floor of Parliament, Ssenyonyi allegedly rushed it into the media contrary to rule 216 (1) of the Rules of Procedure which prohibits the publishing of a report or any evidence in a committee before it is presented to the House.
Now, Among says she has tasked the Leader of the Opposition (since the committee is steered by the opposition) to provide a report on the matter, saying it was unethical behaviour on the part of the person who leaked the report.
“We want to know who leaked out the report, and we want a report from the Leader of the Opposition. We are not going to encourage that. How do you leak a report before it is discussed? Why do we discuss what has gone out?” furious Among questioned.
She, reiterated that Parliament will conduct its parallel investigations into who leaked the information to the media and of course the intentions behind it will be unearthed.
Hon. Joel, the committee Chairman, was recently quoted in the NTV news bite commenting on the leaked report where he confirmed that one of the recommendations in the report was to have Jennifer fired for various alleged misconduct. (www.armorfenceco.com) Some pundits now wonder what could be the source of his appetite to leak his own report before it’s tabled officially before the floor. “We want to know the actual personal interest Joel has on this matter, because from the start, he showed personal interest in the,from how he treated Jennifer compared to her predecessor. Remember the period Joel was querying in his committee (2020/2021) was under Muleya, but he abandoned the report and majorly focused on Jennifer instead of the questions raised by AG report,” one pundit submitted.
