The Inspectorate of Government has kicked off an investigation into the allegations that the chairperson of Parliament’s Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (Cosase), MP Joel Ssenyonyi, is involved in undercover corruption and extortion.
This stemmed from several complaints and allegations from whistleblowers accusing him of extorting government officials who often appear before the committee.
MP Ssenyonyi is among others accused of extorting an unspecified huge sum of money from officials of Uganda Airlines who were probed by the committee over alleged mismanagement.
In March last year, NUP Ssenyonyi, together with some COSASE members, allegedly received Ugx1.4 billion while handling the case involving officials from the Civil Aviation Authority.
In November, MP Ssenyonyi was investigated for leaking to the media several classified documents, including the Uganda Airlines report, before presenting and discussing it in Parliament as required by the rules of procedure.
This publication discovered that Ssenyonyi had earlier threatened the Uganda Airlines’ bosses to “squeeze” them if a certain amount of money was not made available to him.
The speaker of parliament, Anita Among, was very bitter with the legislator for his dubious ways of doing things and went ahead to issue him strong warnings.
“The staggeringly high level of corruption and the survival politics in the opposition disqualify them from the moral right to condemn the government for instances of corruption. Interesting how FDC is conspicuously quiet about allegations of the Lord Mayor’s political unfaithfulness,” said Hudu Hussein, the Lwengo RDC, on his Twitter handle.