The speaker of parliament Anita Among’s decision for parliament to adopt Auditor General’s reports without parliament scruitiny isn’t a new thing.
Though many Ugandans have been left speechless on speakers decision to dump the COSASE report on Uganda Airline.
Freeman News site understands that on 30th June 2020, the 10th parliament passed a motion for parliament to adopt all pending AG reports without scruitiny so as to resolve the case backlog and yet a new parliament was about to set in.
The motion which was unanimously passed was moved by then PAC chairperson Nandala Mafabi, the MP for Budadiri West.
Yesterday, speaker Among ordered that since Cosase chaired by Joel Ssenyonyi had failed to handle the AG reports totaling 107, it was important for parliament to adopt the AG’s recommendations so that action can be taken on them. Her decision however, sparked outrage from the opposition claiming that the decision would allow thieves named by AG to go untouched.
However, this news site understands that the speaker’s actions were informed by the fact that there’s alleged laziness on the side of the opposition which chairs accountability committees with specific reference to COSASE! The committee for example is accused of running it’s work without a proper workplan and also spending much of its time on trips.
For example, out of the reports totaling 107, Cosase under Ssenyonyi has only handled three and yet the AG has already tabled before the speaker new reports.
“They talk a lot but act less. The speaker had no option but to adopt the AG reports as they are since COSASE has become unserious. It’s not right for anyone to say the speaker abused her powers because what she did already happened” says a source.
Sources said the reasons for the speaker to take that decision were two!
One was the fact that donors were accusing parliament and government in general of condoning corruption in government by failing to act on accountability queries raised by the Auditor General.
The other reason, was that Ssenyonyi and his committee seemed not to be alive to the fact that those who abuse governmnent offices go untouched especially after key witnesses die due to delays in carrying out investigations.
“We have never seen a workplan from these people. We want the LoP to tell us what he tells these Chairpersons of committees headed by the opposition. Does he have any? The NRM chairpersons have got these workplans as guided by the Chief whip. What is LoP doing? Why is Cosase letting parliament down on pursuing those involved in misappropriation of government funds and abuse of office? What does the public want the speaker to do apart from what she did?” a source added.
We have learnt that Cosase is one of the hugely funded committees that; speaker Among wonders what they do with those funds allocated to them.
“We’re not here to represent ourselves, but the public. The public needs value for money which unfortunately, Cosase seems to be against” says a source.
Meanwhile, MP Ojara Mapenduzi who heads the local government accountability committee emphasized that the speaker’s decision to adopt the AG reports as they came wasn’t strange as it also happened in the last parliament.
“There’s a precedent set in the 10th parliament. We all know that justice delayed is justice denied. We need to adhere to our rules and also the constitution. These AG audit reports have a time frame within which action should be taken on them” he says.
Speaker Among yesterday directed a special audit into the activities of Cosase led by Ssenyonyi accusing him of leaking the committee report into the investigations against Uganda Airlines and also laziness of this committee.
Among said parliament would not accept the leaked report but instead, it will adopt the AG report and also all the remaining reports as tabled by AG.
“Hon. Members, we’re going to adopt the Auditor General’s report because the one of Cosase was leaked out to the public before we could debate on it” Among said adding that parliament was still investigating who leaked the Cosase report into Uganda Airlines and also ordered an audit into the performance of Cosase.
“I noted yesterday that the performance of Cosase in processing the auditor General’s report 2020/2021 has been a cause of concern to this house. And failure for the committee to do it’s work is an indictment on the house. First on the committee then on the house. When someone fails, you all fail and we have all failed” Among told the house plenary yesterday.
Meanwhile, the speaker this morning received the new AG reports for the year ended June 2022.
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