Mr Ababu Namwamba, the House Public Accounts Committee chair. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA
What you need to know:
The MPs, who are members of the powerful parliamentary watchdog committee, want Namwamba removed for alleged corruption.
Nine MPs have signed a fresh petition seeking to impeach Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman Ababu Namwamba.
The MPs, who are members of the powerful parliamentary watchdog committee, want Namwamba removed for alleged corruption.
Mr Namwamba last Thursday survived a motion of no confidence after 13 MPs failed to secure a two-thirds majority (14 votes) to oust him.
“We have so far collected nine signatures which we intend to present to the clerk once we get the requisite numbers by Thursday. We are not going to reconcile,” a member of the committee who wished not to be named said last evening. The MP did not disclose the petitioners.
Mr Namwamba got a reprieve last week after his deputy, Cicely Mbarire, together with Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime abstained from voting. Ms Mbarire abstained despite signing a petition to remove him.
Another member that the anti Namwamba group intends to rely on to get the extra vote to remove the chairman and who was abroad during last week’s vote is Bobasi MP Stephen Manoti.
After surviving the motion of no confidence, Mr Namwamba blamed his tribulations on politics within his own Cord coalition and the Jubilee Alliance. He said a cocktail of politics and corruption had conspired to have him removed but “I am happy that I have been vindicated.”
“I am blameless and as clean as snow. I challenge the EACC, the Director of Public Prosecutions and House internal mechanisms to conduct any further investigations on me.
“I am ready and willing to subject myself to any inquiry. But I tell them, going by what has gone on record today, that they will be wasting their time,” he said. He acknowledged that the allegations of corruption had tainted his name and the image of the powerful committee.
“The challenge now is whether PAC will really operate as one entity going forward,’’ he said.
The Namwamba team is split over claims that some MPs have been receiving bribes to influence the outcome of its investigations.
Some members have been accused of openly collecting bribes on behalf of their colleagues, with some double-crossing others by failing to deliver the illegal payments.
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