Police ordered to withdraw MP Zaake’s security, vehicle

Parliament has instructed the Parliamentary Division Police to withdraw a car and other security details from Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake following his removal as Commissioner.  

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A May 3 letter signed off by the Clerk to Parliament, Mr Adolf Mwesige Kasaija, instructed the police to withdraw the vehicle from Mr Zaake. 

“It has come to my notice that Hon Francis Zaake has never handed over the vehicle to the Director, Admiration and Transport Logistics as per my communication, which is in contravention with the law. The purpose of this communication, therefore, is to instruct you to immediately recover the above-mentioned Parliamentary Commission vehicle from him,” reads in part the letter. 

Mr Luke Owoyesigire, the deputy spokesperson of the Kampala Metropolitan Police, told Daily Monitor last evening that he had not seen the letter. 

“I don’t know the letter and I have not seen it, so I cannot comment, thank you,” Mr Owoyesigire said. 
Efforts to get comments from Mr Fred Enanga, the police spokesperson, and his deputy on whether they had recovered the car were futile as our repeated calls went unanswered. 

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In March, 155 legislators voted to remove Mr Zaake from the Parliamentary Commission over accusations of disparaging then Deputy Speaker, Ms Anita Among. Ms Among has since replaced the late Jacob Oulanyah as the House Speaker.

After two weeks of investigation, the Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Discipline had recommended that Mr Zaake apologises to the House. It held that the conduct of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party legislator was not proper and that it amounted to misbehaviour and misconduct. This recommendation was, however, reviewed for a censure motion that was overwhelmingly adopted by the House. Mr Zaake later petitioned the Constitutional Court, seeking to—among others—overturn his removal from the position. 

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This publication exclusively reported about the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) directive to its Human Rights Committee to send a delegation to Uganda to launch fresh investigations into circumstances under which Mr Zaake ceased being a Commissioner of Uganda’s legislative body.

The Geneva-based assembly of national parliaments—to which Uganda is a signatory—made the recommendation following a sitting on March 24. 

Sources in Parliament indicated that the report angered the leadership of the House, hence renewing its fight with the legislator although the matter was being resolved out of the public eye. 

“The leadership of Parliament was not happy and that is why the fight is intensifying,” the source said. 
Yesterday, the deputy director of communications in Parliament, Ms Grace Obore, referred this reporter to her boss, Mr Chris Obore, whose calls were not answered by press time. 

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Mr Zaake declined to comment about the matter indicating, “This is a court case, we are waiting for the process to commence’’.