The member of parliament for Nakawa West, Joel Ssenyonyi, has accused Speaker of the House Anita Among of attempting to censure him for alleged “indiscipline” and “disobeying” her orders.
In a tweet on Saturday, Mr. Ssenyonyi stated, “I’m told Speaker Anita Among summoned some of my committee members to her office and urged them to initiate a censure vote against me for “indiscipline” and “disobeying” Speaker’s orders.
The National Unity Platform (NUP) spokesperson who leads the Parliamentary Committee on State Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE) asserted on Saturday that the Speaker sent him a letter “guiding” his committee to bar the media from the hearings regarding Uganda Airlines.
“I replied to her in writing, expressing discomfiture because nothing was too delicate to be kept private. A letter supposedly from the Bukedea Woman MP to him was tweeted by Mr. Ssenyonyi on Saturday along with the statement that “other entities were also scrutinized publicly.”
Mr Ssenyonyi’s allegations come just days after the Speaker accused his committee (Cosase) of inactivity, claiming that they had only investigated five government entities out of 107 reports submitted by the Aditor General, Mr John Muwanga.
It should be noted that Mr. Ssenyonyi has recently complained that Parliament hasn’t discussed the files his committee has handled thus far, particularly the contentious Uganda Airlines report. He charged that the Speaker was using delay tactics by not taking the report into consideration for unknown reasons.
Mr. Ssenyonyi claims that the Speaker is attempting to shield Uganda Airlines managers from criticism.
“From trying to protect them from public scrutiny to now sitting on the report, one day the truth behind will surface! By the way, in this letter she appreciated COSASE for “commendable” work we’re doing, she only changed her mind when I kept asking about the report. Meantime, we’ll keep doing our work. Next week we embark on an investigation into Parliament (The Parliamentary Commission falls under COSASE),” he added.
