Kadaga yet to decide on recall petition

But the Speaker is said to have completed consultations on whether or not to recall the House.

The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has not yet decided which way to rule on the petition to recall Parliament from recess.

The House wants to discuss the current acrimony between MPs and the Executive over the death of Butaleja female representative Cerinah Nebanda.

Ms Kadaga, according to authorities in Parliament, is said to have completed consulting on the matter. President Museveni has loudly protested and vowed to resist plans to recall MPs.

Already, some ruling party MPs, reportedly under pressure from their leaders, are reported to have written to the Speaker asking if they can withdraw their signatures from the petition.

Ms Kadaga’s Principal Private Secretary, Mr Cosian Opata, yesterday referred the Daily Monitor to Parliament’s Public Relations office when approached for comment.

Parliament’s publicist Hellen Kaweesa later told this newspaper: “Anytime she (Kadaga) will be announcing her final decision. Consultations have been completed and the final decision lies with her either to summon Parliament or not basing on the circumstances. But all the same, the 21 days have not yet expired.”

Days after the petition were delivered, 10 ruling party MPs wrote to the Speaker requesting to withdraw their signatures. They claimed that the circumstances under which they signed have been overtaken by events. The Speaker’s Office then directed Parliament’s legal department to examine whether MPs can withdraw their signatures or not.

Sources close to Parliament’s Legal Department, speaking on condition of anonymity because of civil service injunctions, told the Daily Monitor yesterday that their position is that MPs cannot simply withdraw their signatures once they have appended them on a recall petition.

It would require proof that their signatures were forged, or if the terms of the petition on which they signed have been amended, for withdrawal to be allowed the sources said.

mnalugo@ug.nationmedia.com