A section of Members of Parliament subscribing to NRM have allegedly complained to their party leader Gen Yoweri Kaguta Museveni about the cruelty and dictatorship in the 11th Parliament.
According to sources that attended the meeting about the censure motion of State Minister for Housing Persis Namuganza at State House Entebbe on Wednesday, MPs said the head of the August House and her Deputy have become dictators and whoever comes out to challenge them in any way, most times ends up facing serious repercussions.
MPs also revealed that the current leadership has caused fear and division among party Members of Parliament.
Sources also revealed that the President asked the former Prime Minister Dr Ruhakana Rugunda and Vice Chairman of the NRM Haji Moses Kigongo to handle the issue of Namuganza and the leadership of Parliament because if not handled well, it may damage the party internally.
The issue of censuring Minister Namuganza has left NRM MPs and Ministers divided as one side calls for mutual agreement and understanding while the other side wants Namuganza out.
According to the Minister of Information Communication Technology and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the issue of censuring Namuganza was supposed to be handled internally but the leadership in Parliament wanted it to be open which has created a point of incompetence and mistrust in the eyes of Ugandans whose desire is service delivery, not personal wrangles.
“Minister Namuganza comments that the Speaker of Parliament is fighting a personal battle, this is very humiliating because as Parliament, Ugandans expect us to have developmental issues but if we bring our feelings, we are going to damage the great image of the Parliament. Also, we need to revise our decorum in the way we speak, and associate with fellow MPs no matter who you are,” he said.
Meanwhile, Namuganza’s censuring motion came as a result of disrespecting the leadership of Parliament. Last year, a section of legislators accused Minister Namuaganza on the floor of Parliament of going to social media and other channels to undermine the operations of Parliament and questioning the powers and integrity of the House’s Adhoc Committee which faulted her for unlawfully allocating plots on the Nakawa-Naguru land.
As a result, she was sent to the Parliament’s Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Discipline. In their report, the committee revealed that they found that the conduct of Minister Nmauganza was not befitting of a Member of Parliament and a minister and being cognizant of the fact that Parliament approved her appointment as a minister, recommends that the House invokes Article 118 (1) (b) of the Constitution and Rule 106 of the Rules of Procedure to censure her.
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