Ministers explain absence from House
A number of ministers have come out to defend themselves after Speaker of Parliament , Anita Among adjourned the House prematurely on Wednesday over what she called chronic absenteeism by ministers.
Among expressed disappointment after realizing that none of the 83 ministers appeared to respond to queries of the day.
She was particularly angered that despite persistent calls made to the ministers to attend plenary, they still didn’t show up.
According to Rule 50 (1) of Parliament Rules of procedure, ministers are required to attend House sittings to answer questions asked of them as part of the accountability mechanism enshrined in the doctrine of separation of powers. She now wants to meet the executive to resolve the matter.
However, Defence and Veteran Affairs Minister Vincent Ssempijja blamed the traffic jam for his late arrival at parliament.
“I can’t speak for everybody but I want to talk for myself. I started moving from Mbuya at 1pm but the road had a lot of traffic jam. The roads are being worked on, you have to wait. Even with the sirens, you cannot push your way through the traffic jam”, Ssempijja told KFM.
His counterpart, the state minister for defence Huda Oleru explains that the workload on ministers’ desks sometimes compels them to get in the plenary sittings late.
Rukia Nakadama, the 3rd Deputy Prime Minister explained that she reached just two minutes after plenary had started and then the Speaker adjourned the House.
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