Battle lines have been drawn, pitting the Leader of Opposition in parliament Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba, against Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, over the need for an urgent parliamentary session to address the current fuel crisis.
The genesis of this cold war is traced from earlier efforts by Mpuuga, to have parliament conduct an emergency session, to discuss ways out of the seemingly unending fuel crisis.
On Wednesday, the Leader of Opposition wrote to the speaker of parliament Jacob Oulanyah, informing him of the need to call for an emergency session, to discuss the fuel crisis, citing public demand.
In a similar development, he also wrote a letter to the Prime Minister Nabbanja, notifying her of the same issue.
In his missives, Mpuuga also noted that the fragile situation at Uganda’s border crossing points like Malaba, which worsens by the day, due to long queues of fuel trucks, and past protests by truckers, need redress.
Now, Mpuuga’s efforts to have parliament convene urgently have been met with serious backlash from Uganda’s first female Prime Minister.
In a statement released on Friday, Nabbanja said it is unnecessary to call for an emergency parliamentary session, terming it “irrelevant and useless”.
She said that it makes no sense to call for an urgent meeting of legislators to discuss fuel, when parliament is pre-occupied with other activities like drafting and apportioning budgets by different committees to different sectors, for this financial year.
” At the moment, parliament is very busy preparing budget for this year. Leave the issue of fuel to government. We shall handle it effectively and with caution. It makes no sense, to sway the legislators from what they are doing now, and involve them in issues to do with fuel prices, which are stablizing slowly,” said Nabbanja.
She scoffed at various opposition figure heads, who concentrate on blackmailing government, instead of working for their respective electorates. She therefore advised Mr. Mpuuga to stay away from the fuel issue, which she claimed is close to being settled.
Most importantly, the prime minister also assured the public that government is working tooth and nail, with her East African partners to settle the grievances of truck drivers, who in the past have complained of hiked Covid-19 testing charges, and have since protested.
Nabbanja also explained that high tech Covid-19 testing equipment and facilities have been put in place by government, at border points in cordination with East African partners.
“Now, the health situation has also stablized. This is because, we have entered a deal with our East African partners to avail us with modern laboratories, that are very effective in testing Covid-19. I think this matter is as good as settled. At the moment, the situation is getting better. Petrol is now sold at Shs.5000, while diesel at Shs. 3,880,” she noted.
For his part, Mpuuga is not relenting. He said today morning, that the fuel question is a pertinent issue and needs to be handled with serious caution, due to the fact that it has raged on for a considerable period of time, causing unforetold miseries to Ugandans.
“Legislators have a duty. Duty to the nation, to let the nation know what is happening in their respective constituencies. Duty to their respective electorates by holding government accountable,”. he said.
Mpuuga further tasked the prime minister to explain to the public, the measures government is trying to put in place, to avert the future re-occurance of a similar crisis.
” I am going to send my informants to carry out thorough investigations and establish if fuel prices have so far returned to normal.”
There is public outrage and concern, due to reports that fuel prices on display at various stations are not the acual prices charged, a strategy drafted by station owners, to outmaneuver government pressure and keep fuel prices high.
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