MP Theodore Ssekikubo has blamed the shortfall of signatures supporting the censure motion against former leader of opposition Mathias Mpuuga and three other commissioners on MPs who have shied away from the motion.

Ssekikubo said on Wednesday that he has been moving to different constituencies to collect signatures, though legislators are not showing interest in signing the motion.

He said he had moved to Hoima and Busoga, and the MPs who turned up were those that had already signed; those that had not signed shunned the process.

“We had hoped that the MPs would join us and give us their signatures, but again, the MPs that showed up with those that had already signed the censure motion and the ones that didn’t found difficulty signing the censure motion—that is why we took the decision to return to Kampala,” he said.

He said he is considering calling MPs that have signed the motion in order to make an assessment and discuss the way forward, noting that he will not drop the motion.

“We are going to carry out an assessment on whether we should wait for the MPs and later hold a meeting with the MPs who gave us their signatures, and we will determine the way forward. But the remaining 6-7 signatures cannot make you drop a motion,” he said.

Ssekikubo said he has collected 169 signatures, but he still has a deficit of 8 signatures to raise the required 177 signatures. The MP had set June 14th, 2024, as the deadline for collecting the signatures, which he later extended.

The motion has been criticized by some legislators who claim Mpuuga and other commissioners were rewarded by parliament. Government Chief Whip Hamson Obua described the motion as ‘dead on arrival’. Obua said last month that Ssekikubo should stop wasting time, noting that if there was a time limit for collecting signatures, the motion would be dead.

The censure motion targets Esther Afoyochan (Zombo DWR), Prossy Akampulira (Rubanda DWR), Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central), and Mathias Mpuuga.