By Aggrey Baba
Following the arrest of pro-Anita Among mobiliser and Masaka City Woman MP Justine Nameere on Friday night, Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba has revived debate on the controversial parliamentary “service awards” scandal, which has reportedly sent fear among former commissioners of Parliament.
Muhoozi’s tweet, in which he hinted at possible investigations into corruption inside Parliament, has brought the scandal back into public discussion and unsettled those linked to the Parliamentary Commission.
Former Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) and then Vice President of the National Unity Platform (NUP) for Buganda, Mathias Mpuuga, and former commissioner Solomon Silwanyi, who both served during the period when the controversial service-to-holder payments were approved, are now at the centre of it all.
The payments, which caused national anger in 2022, reportedly saw the former Nyendo-Mukungwe lawmaker receive UGX 500 million while other commissioners, including Silwanyi, Esther Afoyochan and Prossy Mbabazi Akampurira, each received UGX 400 million.
It is also reported that similar payments of UGX 400 million each were again processed later, ahead of the January 2026 general elections.
Although the commissioners defended the payments as lawful and approved by Parliament, the issue attracted strong public scrutiny and became one of the most controversial financial scandals involving Parliament.
Now, Muhoozi’s remarks have brought the matter back into public attention, creating fresh fear among people who were part of the commission at the time.
It is now said that these former commissioners are worried that the issue could be reopened for investigations or further scrutiny depending on how the current situation develops.
For Mpuuga, the return of the scandal is especially sensitive. He has consistently maintained that the payments were legal parliamentary benefits, but the renewed attention has again put him under pressure and revived public criticism.
Silwanyi is also back under focus because of his strong support for Speaker Anita Among during past internal parliamentary and CEC fights, where he was one of her key defenders and a chief mobiliser for Busoga Sub-region. He was also on several occasions reported to have made controversial remarks about former Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, including allegedly referring to her as “useless for being childless” during a radio programme in Bugiri, where he argued that Busoga needed “a real woman who can produce.”
His role during that period is now being looked at again.
The situation has also been made more tense by Nameere’s arrest, which is linked to alleged attempts to influence MPs and political mobilisation around Speaker-related contests, although details have not been officially confirmed. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
