Let Parliament do its work, Tayebwa defends Cosase probe

Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, Tuesday warned ‘naysayers’ from interfering with the work of Parliament.

“The whole of last week the media has been awash with stories of investigations being conducted by one of our committees, which is Cosase. I have seen different reactions, some of them from members of this House; making comments that would bring disrepute the image of the House,” Mr Tayebwa said in his opening remarks during the Tuesday afternoon plenary sitting.

“I want to caution those interfering with the way we are doing our work as a House; calling and threatening our MPs or trying to belittle this House when conducting its duty to stop,” he said.

Mr Tayebwa encouraged government officials and Members of Parliament, who may have any issues with the way business is conducted in the August House, to raise it with the leadership of Parliament who include the Speaker, Leader of Opposition, Leader of Government business and the party whips.

“We derive our powers from Article 90 of the Constitution, when you also look at Rule 308 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament and also Section 8 of the Parliamentary Rules and Privileges Act, we are supposed to do our work without interference, but we need to do it responsibly. On some occasions we might go overboard but if there is any issue with the conduct of business, this House has a leadership,” the Ruhinda North MP stated.

“Where you feel any excesses on how a committee is handling its work, please reach out to us. I like how the Attorney General usually does it; he approaches the presiding officers of the House. We all have a responsibility to protect the image of Parliament,” he added.

Mr Tayebwa’s comments come at the backdrop of claims from some members of Parliament’s Committee on Commissions Statutory and State Enterprises (Cosase), that they have received death threats relating to the ongoing probe into the irregular operations of Uganda Airlines, which commenced last week.

The committee Chairperson, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi confirmed the threats, stating that he had been instructed to “loosen” his energy while probing the Uganda Airlines boss.

The Nakawa West legislator, however, reaffirmed that his committee would not bow to the pressure and would continue holding corrupt public officials accountable for causing financial losses to the government.

Mr Ssenyonyi subsequently recorded statements at Kampala Central Police Station on allegations of threatening violence. 

“My duty is to inform them [Police]. When thieves attack you in the night, you call the police. Whether they come or not is another matter,” Mr Ssenyonyi said on Saturday, after recording a police statement.

Meanwhile, the Tuesday meeting between the committee and officials from the Uganda Airlines to further discuss queries raised in the Auditor General’s report for the Financial Year 2020/2021, flopped as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Jennifer Bamuturaki, was no show. 

The Airline’s manager in charge of Quality Assurance, Mr Michael Kalisa, delivered a letter notifying the committee of his boss’ failure to appear, requesting to reschedule the meeting to the second week of September, as they are fixing 'key issues' at their office [Uganda Airlines] that cannot be postponed.

The request was, however, rejected by the committee with the as Mr Ssenyonyi described the management as ‘unserious’ for requesting for an extension on the actual day the meeting was supposed to take place. He instead issued fresh summons for Ms Bamuturaki to appear on Wednesday without fail.

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