LOP Ssenyonyi Under Fire Over ‘Sh1.7Bn Corruption Scandal’
The Leader of Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi is facing intense scrutiny after the emergence of two whistle-blowers’ reports, requesting different issues, related to allegations that he took a Shs1.7bn bribe.
On one hand, a whistle-blower alleges that while chairing the House Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (COSASE) in 2022, the country’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) was embroiled in corruption allegations related to a Sh720 billion loan borrowed from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) of China.
A whistle-blower indicates that during Ssenyonyi’s tenure, the LoP was compromised to water down the recommendations of his committee concerning the investigations into the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which was embroiled in corruption allegations related to a Sh720 billion loan borrowed from the Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank) of China.
The loan was intended to upgrade several installations at Entebbe International Airport, including the expansion of the passenger terminal, the erection of a new cargo center, and the refurbishment of the airport’s two runways.
However, the ambitious project was overshadowed by speculation that the country’s national credit card had been maxed out and the airport’s ownership was at risk of changing hands.
The details surrounding this deal had earlier on December 1, 2021, provoked Attorney General (AG) Kiryowa Kiwanuka to reassure MPs on the audit committee. Kiryowa emphasized that the Government of Uganda could not default on the loan during the grace period and clarified the nature of the transaction.
“This contract was signed on 31st March 2015 with a grace period of 84 months which is seven years. The first repayment date is 1st April 2022; the Government of Uganda cannot be in default during the grace period,” Kiryowa stated.
“Secondly, this is not a dispute between Uganda and China. This is a transaction between the Government of Uganda and Exim Bank of China. So let us not make it seem like the Government of China lent Uganda money. It is the Exim Bank of China that lent Uganda money,” Kiryowa added.
Although the Chinese Government owns the above-mentioned bank, Kiryowa, the principal legal advisor to the Government of Uganda explained that the two do not mingle as such.
“China as a Government is separate and distinct from its bank just like Uganda as a Government is separate and distinct from UDB. Therefore, if the Uganda Development Bank (UDB) lends you money and you have a dispute with UDB you do not make it a dispute with the Government of Uganda,” he said, “I wanted us first to get that so that we get the comfort that we are not up against state against state.”
While Kiryowa’s explanation helped to calm the storm, several MPs on the committee remained unsatisfied with the report, with some alleging that Ssenyonyi, who postures as a clean man, was bribed.
Another whistle-blower Petitions IGG
Presumably, after getting some information, Agora Discourse, a digital public square forum, requested the Inspector General of Government IGG) on July 1, 2024, calling for public release of information related to the “income, Assets, and Liability forms” of seven “public servants that should be in the inspectorate’s possession as per section 3 of the Leadership Code Act, 2002…”
It has been variously alleged that the LoP has amassed a significant amount of property in a short span of three years he has been an MP, raising suspicions of corrupt practices.
On Agora’s seven wanted civil servants to see IGG declare their wealth, the under-fire LoP, is featured as number three on this list.
Currently, social media is ablaze with its users now piling pressure on the LoP to come clean.
A #SsenyonyiMustResign is the leading trend on X formerly Twitter which social media users amplify with inscriptions of Shs1.7bn including Red T-shirts, billboards, and mocking videos and animations tailored to Ssenyonyi’s name.
The corruption allegations have tainted the image of the LoP with many questioning his integrity and calling him out to explain himself before addressing the public.
The matter is not farfetched as it’s reported that NUP leadership was tasked by irate residents of Rukungiri district where their party leader Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine, was for his countrywide mobilization tour.
Sources say Ssenyonyi who was short of words to explain the scandal allegations, was prompted to excuse himself from the mobilization caravan on the ground that he had been “attacked by malaria.”
It is alleged, during one of the rallies, Ssenyonyi and his leader Bobi instead, played deafened. In consolation, Bobi Wine assured Ssenyonyi that it was all the work of hatchet men, reportedly telling the embattled born-again Christian, “Don’t worry, that’s social media, it will pass.”
Due to mounting pressure from multiple corners, Ssenyonyi took to his X account and he has since, come out twice to dismiss the allegations, claiming that those throwing corruption allegations are aiming to silence him.
“…that is what the thieves in parliament whom we are exposing have resorted to through their propagandists. Up to now, we are waiting for the said audios…” Ssenyonyi posted on Tuesday “nonetheless, we shall continue to speak out against corruption by thieves in parliament whom you all know very well.”
On Wednesday, the LoP posted on X to say, “when I started pressing hard about the corruption at Parliament, I knew there would be ramifications such as baseless propaganda. What is for sure is that I will not stop confronting this corruption…”
However, his explanations have been general and lack specific details, leading many to doubt his sincerity.
“Corrupt politicians are like wolves in sheep’s closing, using their fake anti-corruption crusade as a smokescreen to hide their shady dealings and garner public sympathy,” one political analyst said, “when corrupt politicians cry foul and claim to be fighting corruption, it’s like a thief shouting stop thief to distract from their looting.”
He concluded, “We must not be fooled by their crocodile tears and cleverness.”
This is not the first time, the LoP has been embroiled in a corruption scandal. In March 2024, he was forced to refund monies he had wrongly received as per diem for five days, despite only spending one day in Nairobi, Kenya where he had gone to check on ailing Kawempe North MP Muhammad Sseggirinya who had been hospitalized at Aga Khan Hospital. A Parliamentary online exhibition championed by Agora Discourse exhibited receipts on which he had received the money from the Bank of Uganda only to be seen on a weekend launching a football tournament in his Nakawa West constituency perhaps using the balance on per diem he had got off a sick counterpart.
The embattled LoP has also sued Dean Lubowa, a YouTuber who raised a red flag regarding this said corruption scandal.