President Yoweri Museveni has instructed the auditor general to look into the activities of MPs and the twenty million sent to each in their accounts.

President Museveni in his letter told the speaker how he did not authorize the payment and, therefore, it was ‘illegal’ for them to pay themselves.

Museveni confirmed: “I am writing to you in the matter of the Shs.20M which Parliament diverted from the Government plan to another purpose.”

He then went on to alert the speaker how he had instructed the auditor general to investigate the MPs.

The President revealed: “My decision, therefore, is that by copy of this letter, I am requesting the Auditor General to audit this aspect, where MPs became the ‘Purchaing’ officers of the State and see whether their efforts were legal. I ask him to conclude it in four weeks so that we do not have to wait indefinitely.”

We have reproduced the President’s letter below:

I am writing to you in the matter of the Shs.20M which Parliament diverted from the Government plan to another purpose.

First of all, this is unconstitutional. Both in logic and law, it can not be correct that the head of government, the President, through the ministers responsible, submits a plan for expenditure to Parliament and, then, Parliament reshuffles the priorities and creates its own against the plan of the President. Yes, Parliament may approve or disapprove. That is in order. In that case, the President will discuss with the MPs, hear one another’s logic and agree to a way forward. However, for Parliament to unilaterally reshuffle the priorities of the government, it means that there is no need to have the President and the executive arm of government. The Parliament will have become both the executive and legislature. This is not correct. Indeed, the constitutional court, in the case of Parliamentary commission v Mwesigye Wislon Constitutional Appeal No. 08 of 2016, guided the country on that. This is something that should not happen again. Indeed, I have discussed with you this matter a number of times.
When it came to the matter of the Shs20M for each MP, by the time you came to see me with the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister, we were told that the money had already been sent to the MPs accounts. How could that happen? Isn’t a supplementary expenditure part of the finance bill? Isn’t the President supposed to, first, assent or otherwise, to that bill before it becomes law? Who, then, authorised the expenditure according to a bill that had not become law? Is tat not illegal?
I had all these issues in my head. However, when you came to see me, in my usual way of looking for peace (blessed are the peace makers for they will be called children of God” in the book of Mathew Chapter 5, verse 9. I limited my advice to you only on the issue of getting our MPs out of that cul de sec by each MP taking the money to the District Chief Administrative officer (CAO) in the presence of the District Task Force. In that case, the problem would have only have remained between the executive and Parliament of reshuffling the priorities of the executive without consultation. However, the public anger that the MPs were self-serving, selfish people, especially the MPs of the NRM, would have be obviated.
I, now, however, hear and I have seen on some TVpictures, MPs distributing food to the public or MPs delivering items to the district task force. The question is “are MPs the purchasing officers of the state of Uganda? The accounting officers of the country are well known. The MPs are certainly not among them. What procurement rules did these individual MPs follow?
My decision, therefore, is that by copy of this letter, I am requesting the Auditor General to audit this aspect, where MPs became the ‘Purchasing’ officers of the State and see whether their efforts were legal. I ask him to conclude it in four weeks so that we do not have to wait indefinitely.
Did the MPs follow the health precautions of the ministry of health when they were distributing the food? I have been to Karamoja to open the marble factory, in Nakasongola to luanch the firefighting vehicle of the Luwero industries and to Jinja to deal with the crisis of the water levels. In all these cases, groups of people were trying to stop me to tell me this or that. I do not want to be a cause of single infection on account of my stopping to talk to groups. That is why the Task Forces use non political people in soldiers etc. How did the MPs handle this? I have told the Minsitry of Helath to audit this and write to you with copies to the relevant people, including myself.
This is inorder to see how to limit this damage. The MPs that handed the money to the CAOS should be left out of this inquiry.