By Spy Uganda
Kampala: The former Leader of the Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga has firmly declared his refusal to step down from his current position as Parliamentary Commissioner noting that the National Unity Platform (NUP) his political party has based its advice on misinformation and a terrible misapprehension of facts.
Mpuuga’s reaction comes after NUP officials, on Thursday evening, called upon him to resign from the parliamentary commissioner role, just three months after his appointment. The allegations against him include corruption and abuse of office.
However in response, Mpuuga dismissed accusations of fraudulently receiving a Shs500 million ‘service award’ from Parliament noting that the money was legally allocated to him by a Commission in his capacity as the Leader of the Opposition, following scrutiny by relevant parliamentary committees for legality, feasibility, sustainability, and relevancy.
Furthermore, Mpuuga vehemently rejected any insinuation of corruption, describing such claims as spiteful, displaying double standards, and intentional misrepresentation to the public and party members.
“To call any such payments corruption is the highest level of spite, double standards and deliberate misrepresentation to the public and membership of the Party on a purely selfish mission,” Mpuuga said in a statement.
“I accordingly decline the cowardly call on me to resign as a parliamentary Commissioner, based on spite, envy and deliberate misrepresentation,” he added.
Expressing concern over a deliberate and funded campaign to tarnish his name, Mpuuga has thus vowed to sacrifice himself to restore sanity and ‘common sense’ in the party politics.
“It became the official style of different party leaders to undermine my work, including hiring bloggers to abuse and insult my person. I stayed committed and calm throughout these most compelling times, because the call to serve above self remained my creed,” Mpuuga said.
“I wish to assure the general membership of NUP and all change seeking forces that this shall remain my resolve; and I cannot be deterred by small-group-family interests being peddled to blur the bigger picture of how the Party is being managed without transparency,” he emphasized.
His response comes after NUP’s statement shared on social media by party president Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wwine advising Mpuuga to step down over the alleged Shs500 million ‘service reward’.
According to NUP, Mpuuga acknowledged and apologized for his actions during a Wednesday meeting which he denies attending and insisted that he only discussed the matter informally at party offices.
Mpuuga further challenged the party to ensure all members refund any funds received as gratuity, stating that if the Shs500 million is considered corruption, all current and previous MPs should be compelled to repay gratuity or honoraria received from the parliamentary Commission.
“If such payments the (Shs500m) amounted to corruption, all current and previous MPs would be compelled to refund to the public coffers monies paid as gratuity or honoraria since no MP, current and previous was not paid gratuity at the determination of the parliamentary Commission,” he noted.
It should be noted that there has been brewing tension between the NUP leadership and Mpuuga for some time over his alleged closeness to the speaker of parliament Anita Among, whom NUP has accused of allegedly misusing public funds.
