The Leader of the Opposition (LOP) in Parliament,Joel Ssenyonyi has issued a stern warning to the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among cautioning her to stop interfering with the opposition’s decisions on their members.
The furious Ssenyonyi alluded that the Bukedea Woman lawmaker has continuously used her speakership powers to disorganise the decisions the opposition side makes regarding its members on the representations of parliamentary committees.
As Parliament is making changes in its committee leadership preparing for the coming financial year, on Wednesday, during the plenary session, the Opposition Chief whip,John Baptist Nambeshe announced that Dr Abed Bwanika of Kimanya-Kabonero County and his vice Joyce Bagala, the Mityana District woman had been dropped from chairing a committee on Government Assurances and Implementation.
. Both MPs are members of the National Unity Platform and die-hards to the former leader of Opposition Mathias Mpuuga who is currently at loggerheads with the party leadership.
Nambeshe explained to the House that the duo had not performed to the expectations of the party and they were to be replaced by Joseph Gonzaga Ssewungu and Ethel Naluyima as the chairperson and deputy respectively however, his decision met strong resistance from the House, chaired by Speaker Anita Annet Among, who termed it unfair and lacked transparency.
“In my ruling, the decision by the opposition chief whip was not in line with parliamentary procedures and the affected members had not been given a fair hearing, “she revealed. She claimed that the decision could have been motivated by the current personal disputes between NUP and its members.
As a result, parliament voted in favour of the duo and they retained their position on the Committee on Government Assurances and Implementation.
However, Ssenyonyi declared that the duo would remain there on their own but as the party, they disowned them.
“We dont have to give a reason as to why we must change because we are in a multiparty dispensation. Now it clearly shows that these people are being protected by the NRM and by the Speaker again they don’t represent us now as leaders of those committees because we have withdrawn them.”
“The speaker should stop abusing her power when we were allocating the budget committee we proposed Muwadda but she refused and suggested Abed and Mpuuga. We told her that we have the right to choose whoever we want but she insisted but the day of reckoning is coming let her continue using her power. Time is coming,” he said.
Bagala however wondered why her leader Ssenyanyi had decided to play politics instead of accessing issues through a neutral lens. “With all due respect, I think my leader the Leader of Opposition is playing politics, the committee meeting has been sitting and we have made reports but this is just politics and it’s unfortunate. I’m loyal to my party and committed to my party if there is anything the party should be able to call me.”
However, this is not the first time the Speaker of Parliament has interfered with the party’s appointment choices. In 2019, then-Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga rejected the appointment of Moses Kasibante, the Rubaga North legislator at the time, as the vice chairperson of the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities, and State Enterprises (Cosase). Instead, she allocated him to the Appointments Committee.
This incident followed a significant reshuffle by Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) president Patrick Oboi Amuriat. Amuriat removed Bugweri County MP Abdu Katuntu as the chairperson of Cosase and Bukedea Woman MP Anita Among as vice chairperson. He replaced them with Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa and Rubaga North MP Moses Kasibante, respectively.
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