Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda has expressed profound disappointment with the current state 11th Parliament, declaring that it “died” the day Speaker Jacob Oulanyah passed.”
According to Ssemujju, the institution’s integrity has suffered greatly since the demise of Oulanyah, with his successors, Speaker Anita Among and Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, failing to uphold the Parliament’s stature established by previous leaders like Rebecca Kadaga and Oulanyah himself.
In a strongly worded message on X (formerly Twitter), Ssemujju wrote, “As I said earlier, the 11th Parliament died the day Oulanyah died. The current administration has failed to manage this institution. We are yet to experience the worst days in the House because, really, what’s this?”
Ssemujju’s remarks followed a heated session in Parliament, during which unknown figures were seen in the chambers, sparking a major altercation. The incident began as Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake raised security concerns, alleging that unauthorized individuals had entered the chambers during a debate on the controversial dissolution of the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA).
The debate around UCDA has seen strong opposition from Leader of Opposition Joel Ssenyonyi and other opposition MPs, who have vowed to resist its dissolution, while the government, supported by President Yoweri Museveni, insists on the need to restructure it for efficiency.
Tensions escalated dramatically when Zaake approached Kilak North MP Anthony Akol’s seat, attempting to sit there. In response, Akol punched Zaake repeatedly, with footage of the scuffle soon circulating widely on social media, showing Zaake falling to the ground after the assault.
In response to the fracas, Speaker Anita Among suspended 12 MPs, mostly from the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP), for three sittings. Among those suspended were Shamim Malende (Kampala City), Hannington Wakayima Musoke (Nansana Municipality), Aloysius Mukasa (Lubaga South), Charles Tebandeke (Bbaale County), Derrick Nyeko (Makindye East), Frank Kabuye (Kassanda South), Evans Kanyike (Bukoto East), and Susan Nakaziba Mugabi (Buvuma Island). The Forum for Democratic Change’s Isaias Johny Ssasaga (Budadiri East) and Asinansi Nyakato (Hoima City) were also suspended, joining their NUP colleagues in monitoring the coffee debate from their homes.
This is not the first time Zaake gets into confrontations within Parliament. In 2017, during a debate over the removal of the presidential age limit, he was struck by General Katumba Wamala, then Minister of Works and Transport and former Chief of Defence Forces.
Established in 1991, the UCDA oversees Uganda’s coffee industry, a critical economic sector. Uganda, one of Africa’s top coffee exporters, recorded earnings rising from $883.3 million to $952.24 million between November 2021 and October 2022. However, the government’s push to dissolve UCDA in favour of ministry oversight has sparked intense debate, with MPs on both sides standing firm on the future of the country’s coffee sector.
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