Lwemiyaga County legislator Theodore Ssekikubo's tenacity and persistent might be commendable but it all looks like the censure motion is going nowhere with the latest snub by Ankole MPs bordering on embarrassment.

Mr Ssekikubo said Ankole Kigezi members of parliament have not only shunned the censure motion but are also ignoring his calls.

Ssekikubo, in company of Aringa South MP Alioni Odria, spent the first weekend of July in Ankole sub-region combing the area for legislators to append their signatures.

None responded.

“We are here in Ankole. We visited Bushenyi and Mbarara but the legislators' phones are unavailable. Some that have gone through went unanswered,” Ssekikubo said.

“The MPs were creating an excuse of being on recess and therefore can’t sign but we have come to their constituencies to save them the burden but none has showed up.”

Mr Odria said even when they travelled to their constituencies to have the MPs on recess append their signatures, many didn’t answer their repeated calls.

The move to censure four parliament backbench commissioners over pocketing Shs1.7bn from the taxpayer's burden in the guise of service award requires seven more signatures, nearly two months since the book was opened requiring 177 endorsements.

“We have been able to gather 170 signatures and now left with only seven but the MPs of Ankole sub-region have let them come and sign," Odria said.

He revealed that Parliament did not give them transport facilitation despite requesting for fuel and a vehicle last week.

According to Ssekikubo, of the 47 Ankole-Kigezi MPs, less than 15 have appended their signatures.

He was left wondering why current MPs don’t emulate the spirit of powerful former Ankole legislators.

“Districts like Bushenyi, Mbarara here, Ibanda, Sheema had powerful legislators in the 80s and 90s but in 2024 where they are, less than 15 MPs of the 47 have appended their signatures,” Ssekikubo lamente.

However, the Lwemiyaga legislators is optimistic that their efforts will get the remaining seven signatures since they have no time limit.

“We are using Rule 110 that has no expiry, even if each day we get one signature, it is until we have got all the 177 required signatures, we add the evidence, we get the motion polished then we lodge the notice to the Speaker,” Ssekikubo said.

Ssekikubo is leading efforts to collect signatures for the censure motion against former Leader of the Opposition Mathias Mpuuga, and three other former backbench commissioners - Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central), Esther Afoyochan (Zombo Woman), and Prossy Mbabazi (Rubanda Woman) implicated in the controversial service pay.