High Court orders disciplinary action against Clerk to Parliament over 'service award'
The High Court has ordered disciplinary action against the Clerk to Parliament, Adolf Mwesige over allocation of Shs1.7bn service reward to Former Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga and three backbench commissioners.
The order was contained in a court ruling dated August 12, delivered by Justice Douglas Karekona Singiza of the High Court.
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In the ruling, Singiza held that the contested service award was legal because it had been approved by Parliament and included in the executive budget.
However, he ordered the Secretary to Treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi to take disciplinary action against the Clerk to Parliament for his role in the decision-making and the implementation process of the disputed service awards, warning that such allocations can lead to depletion of the country's national coffers.
"Newspaper articles and social media posts in this country are awash with reports of allegations of government agencies and politicians awarding themselves prizes in the form of money. This is common in government agencies and entities whose staff are already highly paid. If this practice continues unchecked, there is a likelihood that our nation’s coffers may be depleted,"
He further asked the Attorney General, Kiwanuka Kiryowa, to urgently consider a Salary and Emoluments Review Board Bill, whose object would be to review and harmonize emoluments and allowances of government and political leaders.
"Such a board would reduce the temptation of leaders adopting rather ad hoc ways of enhancing their emoluments under the cover of prize money, these being matters which the board should in fact report directly to the President," added Justice Karekona,"
In 2022, just a year into their tenures, Mpuuga received Shs500 million while backbench commissioners, Solomon Silwany (MP Bukooli county central), Prossy Mbabazi (DW MP Rubanda) and Esther Afoyochan (Zombo DW MP) received Shs400m each as service reward.
The service award dominated headlines for months, raising concerns among citizens and Parliamentarians who believed the amount was excessive and illegal.
Just a few weeks ago, Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo gathered 189 signatures from Legislators, in a bid to censure the four commissioners.
However, with the latest court ruling, Ssekikubo's censure motion seems to have taken a major blow.
