Museveni gives MP Nantaba guards
Ms Aida Nantaba.
President Museveni has assigned members of the elite Special Forces Command to guard Ms Aida Nantaba, his nominee as state minister for Lands.
The President ordered the security for the Kayunga Woman MP after Parliament rejected her nomination, security sources told Daily Monitor.
The development comes a day after this newspaper revealed that Speaker Rebecca Kadaga had rejected appeals by the President for the Appointments Committee to reconvene and approve Ms Nantaba’s nomination.
The Special Forces Command is in charge of the president’s security and also guards sensitive national installations. It is not known to provide guarding services to MPs or ministers, whose protection is the responsibility of the Police VIP Protection Unit.
Security sources said the President had offered Ms Nantaba security after she received threats from unspecified people.
The reports of the threats could not be independently verified. Daily Monitor could not also confirm whether the threats had been reported to the police and why the force had not offered the MP security.
Members of Parliament, including the Speaker and her deputy, are guarded by police officers. If an MP perceives a security threat, they apply to the Sergeant at Arms, who notifies the Police to provide them with additional security and investigate the threat.
Special Forces Command Spokesperson Captain Edison Kwesiga yesterday said the President has the power to ask SFC to guard any person.
“We guard the President, his family and any other visitor,” he said. “Secondly, it may be upon the President to delegate SFC to guard a particular person on request.”
Ms Nantaba was not available for comment yesterday. Meanwhile, MPs on the Appointments Committee remained divided yesterday over the decision by the Speaker, who chairs the committee, to reject President Museveni’s request to reconvene them.
“The question is why didn’t the President ask the committee to be reconvened on the previous appointees who were rejected by the same committee?” Ms Betty Amongi [UPC Oyam] said yesterday.
“If we reconvene, we will not be trusted by the MPs again. We will be setting a bad precedent and the MPs are only waiting to see to how we handle the matter. If we abrogate our rules, it will be like contempt of Parliament.”
Another Committee member, Mr Mathias Mpuuga (Indep, Masaka), said: “[The President’s] overbearing attitude is not good for the rule of law and constitutionalism in Uganda; his deeds tantamount to blackmail.”
However Ochwa David [NRM, Agule] said Ms Nantaba was “just being fought by land grabbers.”
Youth MP Patrick Nakabaale said the President’s appeal ought to be considered. “It becomes a matter to handle both in the interest of our country and the principles of justice,” he said.
