Speaker Kadaga threatens to suspend 25 MPs again

Kampala

The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has threatened to again suspend the Members of Parliament from Parliament over misconduct.

“The Members who were suspended last time, if they misconduct themselves again, they will be suspended from seven sittings. Seven sittings do run well beyond Christmas. So do not endanger your right to speak; do not endanger your right to vote,” Ms Kadaga said in her communication from the Chair.

She is currently chairing a sitting during which the House will receive two reports, one by the House Legal and Parliamentary Affairs on the Constitution Amendment Bill No. 2 of 2017 – which, among other things, seeks to remove from the Constitution the 75 years’ old upper cap for presidential candidates.

After receiving the reports, the legislators will debate them and vote for or against the proposals therein.

It is unlikely that Parliament will conclude today the debate on the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2017 given that there are many interruptions on points of order and procedure.

Further, each MP is given at least two minutes to contribute to an issue.

With 233 MPs now in the House, that would be 466 minutes or close to eight hours.

Ms Kadaga said Parliament is for discussing ideas not chaos.

The mood is tense in the House, with Ms Kadaga occasionally speaking animatedly whenever opposition MPs raise queries about procedure or order.

By the time of filing this story, a section of Opposition MPs had started singing the national anthem in protest of Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa’s presence that they described as a stranger in the House.