The leader of the opposition Mathias Mpuuga has come out to punch holes in sanctions that the speaker of parliament Anita Among slapped on legislators who are boycotting house sittings in protest of gross human rights violations. Mpuuga says their boycott is backed by the law and they will not succumb to any amount of pressure to return to the house.
However, the government through the chief whip Denis Hamson Obua has told parliament that they are not giving any further response to the opposition’s responses.
Following sanctions slapped by the speaker of parliament Anita Among on the boycotting legislators, the Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga has come out today to maintain that the ongoing boycott of plenary proceedings by the Opposition remains arrive until they extract a proper response on all the demands regarding the gross human rights violations, including explaining the fate of the 18 missing persons.
Addressing the press at parliament today, the Leader of Opposition punched holes in the speaker’s directives regarding them as a deliberate effort to divert them from the noble cause. Mpuuga assured the public that the opposition boycott is fully supported by the Constitution and all the other laws including the parliamentary rules of procedure.
The speaker banned the boycotting opposition lawmakers from participating in other parliamentary activities including committee meetings, foreign and domestic travels plus the upcoming East African Parliamentary games. But Mpuuga asked legislators he leads not to be bothered by the travel restrictions that come with hefty allowances since they are remunerated fairly well as people’s representatives.
Still, the speaker started today’s house sitting with a reminder that the countdown of the 15 sittings is on course with six sittings down. The matter of the missing opposition legislators became a matter of discussion on the floor as NRM legislators castigated their counterparts for perpetual absence.
Denis Hamson Obua, the government chief whip, informed parliament that the opposition should not expect any further response from the government, claiming all their grievances were exhaustively addressed by the government. He asked the speaker to use all options at her disposal to compel the opposition to return to the house.
The few opposition legislators who defied the boycott and went back to the house joined members on the right hand of the house to castigate their colleagues for staying out for so long.
