Speaker Tayebwa is very unfair- suspended MP Bagala

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, yesterday suspended five members of the Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) party for three consecutive sittings. 

The suspended MPs include; Ms Joyce Bagala (Mityana District Woman MP), Mr Francis Zaake (Mityana MP), Mr Frank Kabuye (Kassanda South), Mr Derrick Nyeko (Makindye East MP) and Ms Betty Nambooze (Mukono Municipality). 

Mr Alex Esagala, the senior press secretary to the Deputy Speaker, last evening told Daily Monitor that the five NUP members were suspended for their “continuous disruption of House proceedings and turning a dignified Parliament into a marketplace in total violation of rules of procedure.” 

The suspension of the group followed the legislators' failure to agree on whether to play a video which allegedly showed acts of brutality meted against NUP party leader Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine and some of his supporters.

The video, which was tendered in by the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, (LoP), Mr Mathias Mpuuga, also reportedly showed the unfair arrests of Bobi Wine and his supporters.

Trouble started after the State minister for Internal Affairs Gen David Muhoozi, presented a “statement about the incidents involving security officials, NUP president and some NUP MPs in Kampala Metropolitan Area and Kayunga on October 5 and 9”.

In response to the statement, Mr Mpuuga asked that the video be played before he could make his statement. His request was granted by Mr Tayebwa.

However, the video did not play, something that was initially blamed on technical issues. Mr Tayebwa then asked Mr Mpuuga to proceed with his submission as the technical team fixed the issues. 

But Mr Mpuuga insisted on having the clip played, saying his submission was premised on and informed by the video. 

The Deputy Speaker again asked Mr Mpuuga and the rest of the MPs to proceed with reactions but some of the legislators, mainly Opposition, refused to comply.

Mr Mpuuga also claimed that one of the officers in the IT department, which was sorting out the issue, had left the office, shortly before the clip was set to be played.

Mr Tayebwa then suspended session for more than 10 minutes. 

During the break, a section of leaders at Parliament, including officials from the office of the clerk, Mr Mpuuga and other MPs led by shadow Attorney General Wilfred Niwagaba, were engrossed in a closed-door meeting allegedly over the same. 

Upon resumption, there was no clear position on the matter and Mr Tayebwa suggested that the decision on whether to play the video or not be put to a vote. The majority voted against it and the Deputy Speaker ruled that it would not played after.

This triggered anger among some of the legislators, some of whom shouted unclear statements.

It is then that Mr Tayebwa decided to suspend the five MPs before immediately adjourning the plenary.

In reaction to the suspension, Mr Mpuuga said: “I am not buoyed by the suspension. The suspension is a very flimsy matter. We are not here for those flimsy peripheral issues. We are here for a very big call. A call for durable constitutional order and for the rule of law to be entrenched plus respect for human rights.”

He added: “We know why there was objection to the playing of the video. The video was a summary of what has obtained in this land in as far as violation of human rights, violation of rights of leaders being arrested like chicken thieves.”

Reactions from suspended MPs 

Joyce Bagala, Mityana Woman MP 

"I really don't care that I have been suspended and I would like to say that the speaker is very unfair because if you ask him why he suspended me, I don't know what he is going to say because even on the floor when he was making the ruling, he didn't tell us. I am not really bothered because suspending me for three days because when you compare it with the many Ugandans who have been abducted that pain is incomparable."

 Frank Kabuye. Kassanda South MP 
"When we stand up to speak, we talk about the issues affecting our people. The common person gains nothing out of the friction and misunderstandings between us (MPs). I will continue to assure the people of Kassanda who gave me the power and all the people who sent us that suspending us for three days will not deter us.”

 Derrick Nyeko, Makindye East MP 
“They are dictating in our House. We are not going to allow. We are not cowards; we are not going to allow them to capture Parliament. This has been their order of the day. We are going to stand firm and we don't fear suspension. So they don't think that because they have suspended us, we are going to lose touch with whatever we are on. We are still firm on the issues of abductions and kidnaps that have been going on and the way they are handling opposition and some members. Those are cowards, shame upon the speaker! Shame upon him."

 Betty Nambooze, Mukono Municipality MP 
"When I was looking for the vote, the people of Mukono frankly told me to come and fight for the people.  What has happened today is that I stood on the point of procedure to inform the speaker that they were intruders in the House. I am a victim. My back was broken when intruders entered the House with guns. What I wanted was for the speaker to conduct a rollcall so that we get to know if every person who was inside that House [was a member]"

 Francis Zaake, Mityana Municipality MP 
"I am not leaving this Parliament. I am actually, if it means sleeping here, I am going to sleep here. Nothing like stopping me. The Mityana Municipality people sent me here to do my work as an MP. I am here to stay; I am not intimidated. No amount of intimidation is going to scare us on what we are supposed to be doing. No amount of suspension is going to scare us. One thing you must be sure of; we are going to make sure that video is played so that the whole world can know how we are being treated in this country as leaders.