Nyendo-Mukungwe MP, Mathias Mpuuga says he will not resign from his position as commissioner of parliament. Mpuuga in a statement issued on Friday rubbished a call from his National Unity Platform (NUP) party urging for his resignation. 

NUP on Thursday issued a statement urging Mpuuga to resign for allegedly receiving Shs 500 million from the parliamentary commission as a’ service award’ as the Leader of the Opposition (LoP).

Mpuuga was in December 2023 dropped by NUP from the position of LoP. He was replaced by Nakawa West MP, Joel Ssenyonyi. The parliamentary commission chaired by the speaker of parliament, Anita Among reportedly awarded Mpuuga Shs 500 million. The award has attracted public criticism and within his party. Members of NUP have alleged that the money was a bribe. 

But Mpuuga in a statement said, “To call such payments corruption is the highest level of spite, double standards, and deliberate misrepresentation to the public and membership of the party on a purely selfish and malicious mission.”   

He explained that if such payments amounted to corruption, all current and previous MPs would be compelled to refund to the public coffers monies paid as gratuity or honoraria. “Since no MP, current and previous was not paid gratuity at the determination of the parliamentary commission.”  

Mpuuga noted that there is a deliberate campaign to character assassinate him but he is ready for the worst.

“The campaign to character assassinate me is deliberate and I am perfectly aware. It’s well-orchestrated and well-funded. I am ready for the worst if it takes this sacrifice to return sanity and common sense to our politics.”

He said he will not heed to what he described as a cowardly call on him to resign as parliamentary commissioner.  Mpuuga further said the call was based on spite and deliberate misrepresentation for mischievous reasons. Mpuuga’s letter came a few minutes before the party President, Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine addressed journalists at the Party headquarters Makerere Kavule over the controversial money.  
Kyagulanyi said that; after landing on allegations that implicated Mpuuga and other commissioners in irregularly allocating large sums of money to themselves, he conducted internal investigations to obtain the evidence, which ultimately found that Mpuuga had indeed received the money.

Kyagulanyi said he convened a meeting with top leaders, which he claims Mpuuga attended and admitted that he did indeed take the money and that it was at that meeting that members advised Mpuuga to return the money, apologize publicly, and step down from his position as a parliamentary commissioner.  

Kyagulanyi noted that he is not bringing the matter up to degrade Mpuuga, but that if any other member is found guilty of corruption, he will do the same to safeguard the party’s values of discipline, reliability, inclusion, honesty, patriotism, and service.

He added that, while many individuals have created the impression that they are fighting Mpuuga, he has denied the claims and has encouraged party members to welcome him as long as he respects the party’s requests.  

Since his reshuffle from Leader of the Opposition office, where he had served for two and a half years, Mpuuga has frequently clashed with party officials on ideological views and has been criticized by some Makerere-Kavule-based party members.

In January, Mpuuga, the NUP deputy president for the Central region, decided to halt the NUP mobilization campaign known as Kunga in Greater Masaka, accusing some members of utilizing the campaign to conduct smear campaigns against elected leaders, so damaging the party. He however reportedly halted the campaign without contacting the party’s top officials.  

The campaign which is chaired by Bobi Wine’s brother Fred Nyanzi was introduced in 2022 to spread the party’s gospel of change at all levels across the country, using structures from villages, and parishes up to the national level.