A group of youths have petitioned the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga demanding that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sam Kutesa be impeached for what they termed as “dishonorable conduct” over corruption allegations.
The petition filed by former Makerere University guild president, David Bala and three other youths; Twomo Martin, Henry Byansi and Simon Peter Esomu derives from recent accusations made against Minister Kutesa that he accepted a bribe during his tenure as President of United Nations General Assembly.
Reports which emerged towards the end of last year alleged that officials from a Chinese based energy firm wired to Kutesa a sum of USD 500,000 (Shs 1.8 billion) in exchange for future business advantages in Uganda.
In their petition, the group says “we are concerned that through the impugned conduct, Hon. Kutesa has maligned the image of the Republic of Uganda hence putting its future on cold ice”.
“We are also concerned that Uganda is now viewed as a country of greedy and egocentric people with no political will to fight corruption,” the petition further reads.
When these allegations first came out, government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement defending Kutesa.
The group also cites previous graft related cases in which Sam Kutesa’s name has been sucked, including allegations that he diverted money meant for the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) and similar claims connected to the now defunct national carrier, Uganda Airlines.
It is upon these claims that the group has demanded that Speaker Kadaga sets up a committee to probe into Kutesa’s ‘corrupt’ conduct.
“We demand that Parliament moves a motion to impeach Kutesa for dishonorable conduct,” the group has prayed, and that “the matter be taken seriously lest we shall be constrained to refer the matter to courts of law, to compel Parliament to perform it’s constitutional oversight role over the Executive”.
They say that Kutesa’s conduct is detrimental to the public good, welfare and good governance of this country, and contravenes the principles established in the constitution, Leadership Code of Conduct, values and aspirations of Ugandans.
This petition comes weeks after a section of Members of Parliament including Ntungamo Municipality legislator, Gerald Karuhanga moved a similar motion seeking that Parliament investigates Kutesa over the Shs 1.8 billion bribery allegations.
The MPs further asked that Kutesa appears before the House to defend himself in regards to the claims which they said tarnished Uganda’s reputation.