By Adam Bukenya | Wednesday, April 16, 2025

72 members of parliament have signed a declaration submitted by Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), denying any involvement in the purported Shs100 million cash handout that was allegedly paid to MPs behind closed doors.

Ssenyonyi presented the list of signatories to reporters during a press conference on Tuesday morning, calling it a public vow of integrity. Declaring the MPs’ innocence in the contentious disbursement, he underlined that the signatures need to be regarded as a type of oath.

This list is a public commitment rather than merely a symbolic one. Additionally, Ssenyonyi advised anyone with legitimate concerns about any of the names on this declaration to bring it up for review.

He also questioned the reasoning behind the money’s distribution, exposing that several NRM MPs with whom he had direct contact said they received the funds to keep an eye on government initiatives. This reasoning was contested by Ssenyonyi, who questioned why individual MPs would be given the same amount as entire parishes under the Parish Development Model (PDM).

“Why would one MP receive the same amount for so-called monitoring if an entire parish earns Shs100 million under PDM? He contended that the reasoning was incoherent.

The LoP also expressed concern about the soaring classified spending, pointing out that during the previous five fiscal years, Shs16.8 trillion was spent under the classified budget. He explained that the amount must be reasonable and in line with Uganda’s available resources, coming to about Shs3.3 trillion annually.

According to Ssenyonyi, money for UPDF operations in war-torn areas like South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Somalia is still not covered by classified budgets. He explained that those deployments are not included in the classified expenditure line and are instead appropriated in Parliament through standard procedures.

Even the budgets for deployments to combat zones are discussed and approved by Parliament. “So, if hiding Shs 3.3 trillion under “classified” isn’t about avoiding accountability, what’s the rationale?” he asked.