Twenty-one Members of Parliament have failed to declare their assets as required by the Leadership Code Act. Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, warned the MPs during a plenary sitting that failure to comply may lead to loss of seats in the House.
“I have a list of 21 members who have not declared. Just go and declare your liabilities if you don’t have assets. If you don’t have assets, at least you have income,” Among told MPs during the Wednesday plenary sitting.
“I want you to cross-check. I have been calling a number of you, I hope you have sorted out yourselves. And you know that is good enough to get you out of this House. You look at Lukyamuzi’s case, there is already precedence to that effect. Better check and make sure you declare,” she added.
The declaration exercise, which required leaders to disclose their income, assets, and liabilities, was launched by the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Beti Olive Kamya, on March 1, 2023, and closed on March 31st, 2023 at midnight. The IGG warned leaders that there is no provision in the law to extend the declaration period and any leader who failed to declare by the deadline would be in violation of the law.
The Deputy Spokesperson at the Inspectorate of Government (IG), Farouk Kayondo, stated that the MPs could write to the IGG to explain why they had not declared and request permission to declare.
“It will be up to the IGG’s discretion to allow or not to allow. If she allows, the system will be opened for them and if she doesn’t…that is a case of the Leadership Code Tribunal for adjudication because that is a breach,” said Kayondo.
The Leadership Code Act, 2002, amended in 2021, requires political and appointed leaders specified under the Second Schedule Part A and the Third Schedule Part A and Part B of the Act to declare their income, assets, and liabilities to the IG every two years in March.
The sanctions for breaching the Code include fines, warnings, cautions, demotions, dismissal from office, vacation of office, and confiscation and forfeiture of illicitly acquired assets, gifts, or benefits to the government.
