The state house of Uganda has come out in an official letter under the presidential press unity (PPU) and denounced the letter making rounds on social media platforms, purportedly authored and signed by President Museveni issued against Speaker Anita Among accusing her for wasting taxpayers’ money on Hon Mathias Mpuuga and other Parliamentary Commissioners is fake.
“The Presidential Press Unit – PPU wishes to inform the General Public that the letter circulating on social media purportedly authored by H.E The President on the subject of service awards to Parliamentary Commissioners is forged and should be ignored,” the Presidency said in a brief statement on Monday, May 13, 2024.
The ‘viral fake letter’ claimed that Mpuuga and other commissioners have accumulated primitive wealth through wetting their beaks with the so-called ‘service awards’. In the fake letter, ‘Museveni’ questioned what special services are offered by these people to be awarded over Ugx1 billion.
It’s worth noting that barely a year into office on March 6, 2022, the Parliamentary Commission doled out Shs500 million to Mr Mpuuga, who also received a bodyguard, while the former backbench commissioners each received Shs400 million.
The awards were given on a personal-to-holder basis, meaning the benefits were specific to the four officials and not the office they held.
“When we were fighting Obote and Amin, we used to call it a primitive accumulation of wealth. “Why? Officials under those regimes were trying to get for themselves as much money as possible in the quickest time possible, in the easiest way possible. We used to ask them, ‘Where does this leave your country?’” reads the fake letter.
