OPINION: The 1.6 Billion Shilling “Service Award” Scandal

A dark cloud of financial scandal once again hangs over the Ugandan Parliament, and this time, the stench is particularly potent. I have been reliably informed that some weeks back, the four Commissioners of Parliament—Hon. Solomon Silwany, Hon. Esther Afoyochan, Hon. Prossy Akampulira Mbabazi, and Hon. Mathias Mpuuga—quietly approved for themselves a second “service award” to the tune of 400 million shillings each.

This is not the controversial 1.7 billion shilling award that sparked public outrage earlier. This is a fresh, additional 1.6 billion shillings, a staggering sum that has been conveniently channeled through the Parliamentary SACCO. The choice of the SACCO as a conduit is, by all accounts, a deliberate and calculated move to obfuscate the paper trail, blurring the lines of accountability and making it difficult for the public to trace this colossal expenditure.

According to the information at my disposal, this money was expressly intended to “see them through the campaign season.” In essence, taxpayer money, meant for the service of the nation, is being repurposed as a multi-billion shilling war chest for individual political ambitions.

Faced with the imminent exposure of this egregious act, these leaders and their agents have resorted to a classic political diversion: spreading a web of propaganda. In the past few days, a coordinated narrative has been pushed, suggesting that I, too, was a beneficiary of this illicit largesse. Let me state this in the clearest terms possible: This is completely and utterly false.

There is no truth to the claim that I received any such service award. This fabricated story is nothing more than a desperate smokescreen, a thinly veiled attempt to create a false equivalence and dilute their own culpability. The strategy is simple: if everyone is painted with the same brush of corruption, then no single individual can be held accountable. It is a cowardly attempt to hide their collective guilt behind a lie aimed at me.

Let me go a step further to remove any shadow of doubt. Even if they were to quietly and surreptitiously transfer any such money into my account in a bid to implicate me or force my compliance, my instructions are clear. I will immediately instruct my bank to return every single shilling to the sender.

My position on this matter is non-negotiable. Such under-the-table payments are not only a gross abuse of office but are also illegal and irregular in every sense of the word. They represent a betrayal of the public trust and a blatant violation of the fiduciary duty these Commissioners swore to uphold.

The people of Uganda deserve better. They deserve representatives who are stewards of public resources, not those who view the national treasury as a personal ATM to fund their political survival. This 1.6 billion shilling scandal is a test of our nation’s integrity. Will we allow such brazen acts to be swept under the rug with lies and propaganda, or will we demand full accountability and the immediate return of these funds?

The spotlight is now firmly on Hon. Silwany, Hon. Afoyochan, Hon. Mbabazi, and Hon. Mpuuga. They must answer for this second award. No amount of misinformation or attempts to drag innocent parties into the mud will change the facts. The truth will prevail.