Parliament doesn’t account for rumours, Obore tells LOP Ssenyonyi

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KAMPALA - Parliament director of communication and public affairs Chris Obore has told Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the House Joel Ssenyonyi that the institution does not account for rumours.

“Parliament accounts to the public through proven and verified facts. Parliament does not account for rumours; it is the peddlers of rumours to account for their rumours,” Obore told New Vision Online on Monday, March 11, 2024.

He was reacting to the LOP’s remarks earlier in the day that the top leadership of Parliament must respond to all the corruption allegations and abuse of office levelled against them.

“Parliament of Uganda must unequivocally explain to the people of Uganda, all these various allegations of staff recruitments and monies that are spent in manners that aren’t understandable. We are accountable to the people of Uganda, and no one should say, it isn’t the business of the public,” Ssenyonyi, who is also the Nakawa West MP, told the media.

“This is their money. So, how do you say, it isn’t their business? If we are to be a people-centered Parliament, we must account,” he added.

Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in the House Joel Ssenyonyi.

On the recruitment, Obore said the Auditor General has given them a report showing vacancies that are not filled.

“We are unable to fill them because there is no budget, but once we get the budget those vacancies will be advertised for Ugandans to view for them,” he said.

He dismissed a recent media report that Parliament spends shillings 2.6 billion daily: “It is not possible for shillings 2.6 billion to be spent daily because the expenditure items are not daily. What they have done is to go and get a budget of Parliament for a year and divide it by 360 days, but that is a very cheap interpretation of the budget because we don’t spend money daily,” he said.

“I don’t understand how the daily expenditure comes in. So, the story saying Parliament spends shillings 2.6 billion daily is false because we don’t pay salaries, for instance, daily or fuel cars daily. The story is just part of the ongoing campaign to paint Parliament negatively, especially to target the Speaker of Parliament which is okay, but let the public be given accurate information,” Obore added.