Ssekikubo has handed the Mpuugas their cross so will they carry or break it?

On May 21, it looked like collecting signatures for the censure of four commissioners of Parliament would be a walk in the park. Then suddenly, the skies turned grey and picked up darker shades as winds blew recklessly at it.

Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo, Tororo Woman MP Sarah Opendi and Alion Adria of Aringa South looked like they were about to be drenched by a heavily pregnant cloud that hung so loosely over their heads.

The trio, the architects of the censure motion that seeks to Commissioners Mathias Mpuuga, Solomon Silwany, Esther Afoyochan and Prossy Mbabazi were walking a very tight rope and looked certain to toppled down cliffs.

Out of the blue, a group of persons claiming to be from Sembabule was allowed to march into Parliament to demonstrate against Ssekikubo's prolonged absence from his constituency.

On Thursday, Mr Ssekikubo's relief was felt from the oldest tomb as he nailed down the final down the final signature.

And this one came with a revelation.

"They have been abusing me in the constituency and on on several burial ceremonies I have been denied to speak," said Masindi Woman MP Florence Asiimwe.

"I have e also seen my opponents de-campaign me using the same tool that I support the corrupt officials in Parliament."

Last Tuesday, the youth made themselves clear on matters of accountability with the March to Parliament and the simmering anger was a testament that legislators who had refused to append their signatures were taking a delicate balancing act into 2026 elections.

The last time the citizens were this angry with Parliament, so many who had voted AYE in the controversial age limit issue ended up worse than the proverbial exiles to Taiwan as they headed straight into political cemetery.

There is a lingering fear among legislators that this is what could be awaiting the Nserekos and Bwanikas come 2026 vote.

Things were made worse by the tenacious Ssekikubo insisting he would publicise the censure signatures so the citizens can know who of their MPs sided with the monster called corrution.

Mr Mpuuga, then the Leader of the Opposition, in 2022 negotiated a controversial 'service award' in which he pocketed Shs500 million while the three backbench commissioners of Silwany, Afoyochan and Mbabazi took home Shs400 million each.

Condemned by the wider majority of the public as corruption and abuse of office, Mr Mpuuga has stood his ground at the cost of his political collar, Afoyochan has maintained a deathly silence and Silwany has been lying low.

It is only Ms Mbabazi who, after a long time of watching her Rubanda people protest and her rivals use the opportunity to gel with the voters, admitted taking the money.

Ms Mbabazi did not apologise, but said she had given out the money to women's groups in the district.

And now with the minimum signatures attained, will the embattled commissioners carry their cross to Golgotha or break it apart?

Censure from over

Ssekikubo's relief was palpable. Already a big winner in this after exposing so many MPs who talk big about fighting graft but folded their tails at the hour of reckoning, the Lwemiyaga County legislator has shown that the creases on his brows are from stellar political experience.

Ssekikubo has subtly used the censure motion book to dangle baits and draw threatening lines in equal measure.

The latest, extending a grace period to those who have not yet signed to do so by Monday, is just another classic political dice with sixes to his favour.

Looking at the censure process as defined by the Rules of Procedure, the Mpuuga's are far from being decapitated.

In fact, they could still embarrass Ssekikubo at the hour of reckoning.

But lo, there will be no embarrassment - Ssekikubo is already a big winner regardless of the outcome of the censure vote.

According to the Rules of Procedure, a Parliamentary Commissioner may be removed from office on grounds of incompetence, misconduct, or failure or refusal without justifiable reason to execute the duties of the Office of Commissioner.

"A Parliamentary Commissioner shall be removed upon the vote of at least half of all voting Members of Parliament," the rule says.

It is the last lifeline for the four commissioners but it is also potentially a major lifeline for the rest who did not sign the censure motion.

This vote will be a vote against corruption and it comes at the height of the people's agitation for sanity to be restored in Parliament.

Speaker Anita Among, who has been the subject of agitation of the youth, has her work cut out here.

But for Ssekikubo, dangling that last dice of allowing those who refused to sign to do so is one trick from the hat that is shouting at the MPs: Vote for the impeachment or the electorate will do the rest.