{UAH} Dombo wants Oguttu probed over graft talk
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12:04 PM |
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Bunyole East MP and Parliamentary commissioner Emmanuel Dombo has a bone to pick with his Bukooli Central counterpart, Wafula Oguttu, over recent remarks about graft in the legislature.
Speaking at the Transparency International Uganda award ceremony last month, Oguttu said Parliament was riddled with corrupt tendencies.
The statement riled Dombo, who now says Oguttu should substantiate his allegations. He told The Observer last week that Oguttu should identify the corrupt or withdraw his statements.
"When we meet as a commission, I will strongly want the speaker to write to [Oguttu] so that he can, either in confidence or openly, volunteer information either to the speaker or to the IGG or even to the auditor general so that we can deal with that vice," Dombo said.
"He should as a bold man come up and state it. If he fears some of his colleagues in his party, and his friends in government, then he should do it in confidence to the speaker or IGG so that he can be protected by the whistleblowers' act."
Oguttu was, however, unbowed when The Observer spoke to him last week. He said Parliament was riddled with corruption in almost all its major departments.
"That there is corruption in Parliament? - 100 per cent yes," he said. "There is corruption in Parliament in procurement, there is corruption in Parliament in giving employment [Human Resource], there is corruption in trips. So, there is corruption in Parliament and there is no doubt about that."
However, Oguttu sounded cagey about appearing before the House commission on the matter.
"I have not got their summons yet but they can't summon me over what I said; they should investigate, I'm not their police," he said.
Asked about Oguttu's comments, Parliament spokeswoman Helen Kawesa said the House administration was operating under the law.
"We have a system which follows the PPDA Act. Whatever procurement is made is handled according to the PPDA Act and to assure you, all our procurements have been audited by the Auditor General and we have not been faulted on any irregularities," Kawesa said.
She added that all external jobs were always advertised nationally and competed for by all interested Ugandans.
Reminded about recent reports that some MPs felt some of their colleagues were unduly favoured to take the trips, Kawesa said: "But all MPs on the committee cannot travel at a go… because it depends on membership and the status of an individual. A [committee] chairperson will travel more than all members of the committee but the speaker makes sure that every MP travels at least once in their term of five years."
She, however, encouraged Oguttu, not to shy away from exposing corruption vices within the institution given the fact that it's after fostering transparency.
"We encourage transparency and if the member feels there is corruption, he can bring up those things because there are clear avenues through which they can be handled," Kawesa said.
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