By Andrew Irumba
Sheema Municipality Member of Parliament Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, who is also the minister for Science, Technology and Information, is choking on debts amounting to over Sh850m, which he incurred during campaigns for the Parliamentary seat he currently holds.
We have established borrowed hundreds of millions of shillings from Moneylenders to bankroll his campaigns, during which he was elected Sheema Municipality MP, after he crossed over from Sheema North constituency.
However, now the Moneylenders keep knocking at Tumweisgye’s door and often bombard him with calls demanding for refund of their money yet he does not have it.
Spy Uganda has landed on a letter , which is one of many that Tumwesigye has written to President Yoweri Museveni, pleading with him for financial assistance.
Tumwesigye wrote in his letter dated June 20, 2019 to the President thus;
“Your Excellency,
Re: REMINDER ON PLEDGE TO PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
Allow me to thank you so much for recently giving audience to the delegation from the Russian Federation, myself and staff from the Ministry of Science and Technology.As a follow up, the technical team and myself will travel to Moscow next week.
Permit me also to thank you for reaffirming the pledge to help me financially on the personal discussions you kindly allowed me to have with you on the same day, after concluding the discussion with the above mentioned Russian delegation.
You reaffirmed the pledge to help me settle the debts that accrued from last year’s successful election of MP Sheema Municipality.
Your Excellency as I informed you then as I had been doing so through many letters of request since September 2018, I borrowed money from Money Lenders and a SACCO and now am under pressure to pay the accumulated principal, interest and now totaling to Eight hundred and fifty million Shillings (UGX 850m).
Any payment can be credited to my Stanbic Bank Account Nakasero branch, Account Number 9030006031454.
I can also provide details of creditors as appropriate.Your Excellency, I shall forever be grateful for your timely rescue. “
But it should be noted that even the Sheema Municipality MP seat for which Tumwesigye borrowed money is hanging on a thread, after the Constitutional Court ruled that he and six other Members of Parliament were unconditionally elected.
the Constitutional Court nullified the election of six Members of Parliament on grounds that they Contested for non-existing vacancies .
The affected legislators are from the newly created municipalities of Bugiri, Apac, Nebbi , Kotido, Ibanda and Sheema; and notably among these are Asuman Basalirwa of Bugiri Municiplaity , and Minister Elioda Tumwesigye for Sheema .
The ruling was made by 5 justices including ; DCJ Alphonse Owiny-Dollo, Kenneth Kakuru, Cheborion Barishaki, Fredrick Engonda- Ntende and Christopher Madrama, who passed a unanimous agreement with the petitioner and a concerned citizen Eddie Kwizera, that the election of the 6 MPs before the dissolution of the existing Parliamnet was null and void .
The justices reasoned that the election of the 6 MPs cannot stand because they offered themselves to contest for constituencies whose administrative units, villages or cells had not yet been demarcated by the Electoral Commission as the law states, that such constituencies created by division of others takes effect in the next general election .
The Court explained that much as Parliament has the power to divide Uganda into so many constituencies and the Electoral Commission is charged with a duty to ensure that each constituency is represented in parliament, this can only be done during a General Election or in a case of a by -election after the speaker of Parliament announces an existing vacancy.
