The Leader of the Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga, has accused the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among of using diversion tactics in handling their boycott of plenary.
This argument follows a resolution by the office of the speaker banning opposition MPs who have boycotted parliament sittings from attending committee meetings and domestic or foreign travels including the upcoming East African games in Kigali, Rwanda. Among also threatened to fire MPs who will miss 15 sittings in a row and called on them to seek formal permission for their absence.
Speaking during a media briefing on Tuesday, Mpuuga has instead instructed MPs boycotting plenary sessions to resist the directive from Speaker Anita Among, which prohibits their participation in committee sittings. He called on committee chairpersons to refrain from trying to enforce the directive.
Mpuuga argues that Members of Parliament were not elected for their athletic or football abilities, urging the Speaker to follow up on her order to the executive. He warns the government that if they fail to explain, the opposition may include the issue of missing persons in their demands.
The shadow cabinet has met in our routine meetings on Tuesdays and we have resolved to assert our boycott of plenary sittings until the government is ready and committed to make a statement which I term as a sequential statement, responding to all the issues that we raised and once that is done we shall commit to go to the house, listen and respond.
Adding that: “I want to reiterate our position that the opposition will continue to attend committee meetings and any other committees of within and without the confines of the parliamentary buildings and I want to ask of our members charing oversight committees, the four ,PAC Central, Cosase, local government and government assurance to continue doing their work”
He further cautioned the other committee chairpersons to desist from enforcing the ‘unenforceable’ and restrain themselves from ‘wiseking’ and chasing away members.
“They have no such power, they are doing it in total disregard of the law and common sense , so they should disregard from doing so, and I ask my members to defy it whenever they are told to move out” he said
Mpuuga announced that his troops will continue to stay away from weekly plenary sessions because the government is yet to commit to addressing six pressing issues that they think are being swept under the carpet.
The opposition demands include seeking answers to the whereabouts of 18 supporters of the opposition National Unity Platform party (NUP) members who have been missing for over two years, a stop to the targeting and victimisation of Muslims, a stop to the detention without trial of political dissenters, an end to human rights violations against fishing communities, the shrinking civil space, mistreatment of politicians and the media, and the trial of civilians in military courts.