By Jackson Onyango
The Rules, Privileges and Discipline Committee of Parliament on Tuesday adjourned an inquiry into the case of alleged misconduct against Mityana Municipality MP, Francis Zaake to December 7th.
This is after both Zaake and his accuser, the Rakai Woman MP Juliet Kinyamatama expressed inability to appear before the committee.
Zaake’s lawyer Erias Lukwago indicated that they could not attend the committee following the orders by the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among barring the boycotting opposition MPs from the committees.
However, the deputy chairperson of the Rules Committee, Mr Charles Onen quashed the claim, arguing that the committee had not been served with a written communication from the Clerk to effect the directive.
“No chairperson of any committee can legally stop any member from attending because no written communication has been forwarded by the Clerk to the committee chairpersons and that’s why yesterday I asked the honorable Lukwago to provide proof that the directive has been issued. The Speaker gave a directive but that cannot be implemented if the Clerk has not forwarded it to the chairpersons of the different committees.,” Onen said on Tuesday.
This comes after the Bamunanika County MP Robert Ssekitoleko was yesterday thrown out of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee of Parliament by the West Budama North East MP Fox Odoi Oywelowo who was sitting in for the chairperson. Onen has described Odoi’s action as “excitement”.
Zaake is battling two cases of misconduct before the Rules Committee one of which dates back to November 2022 where is accused of failing to heed the directive of the presiding officer, Thomas Tayebwa when he protested the abductions of opposition supporters.
The second case is in relation to a concern raised by Kinyamatama who accuses Zaake of making derogatory remarks against her at an Independence Day rally in her district.
