Opposition MPs halt Parliament boycott to honour ex-minister Mpanga
By Jackson Onyango
Opposition Members of Parliament will this afternoon halt the boycott of Parliamentary sittings to pay tribute to former minister Joyce Mpanga.
The session would have been the fourth straight sitting to be missed by the opposition MPs since the Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among commenced counting on Tuesday last week.
Among earlier threatened to invoke the provisions of the law which could potentially put the MPs at the risk of losing their seats after missing 15 consecutive sittings without written notification.
The boycott of the house proceedings by the opposition MPs was instigated by the government’s failure to offer a substantive response to concerns of human rights abuses on top of the list, the whereabouts of 18 missing persons.
They first walked out of Parliament on October 10 in what was a protest of the manner in which the National Unity Platform (NUP) President Robert Kyagulanyi was intercepted on October 5 at Entebbe International Airport and whisked by the security forces to his Magere home in Wakiso district.
The Leader of Opposition, Mr Mathias Mpuuga has severally stated that their return to parliament shall only be after they have received the statement from the government that they will scrutinize first to establish its efficacy for a common decision.
Among last week communicated that the statement would not be presented as had been planned for this week as she stated the ministers responsible for security were scheduled to attend to an important meeting outside the country.
Meanwhile, there have been some cracks to the boycott by the opposition as some members of the Forum for Democratic Change and Uganda People’s Congress have attended the sittings of Parliament.
The pesident of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, Mr Patrick Oboi Amuriat in an interview on Monday stated that they had not been officially notified about the need for the boycott but he also downplayed saying it shall have no effect.
Mpuuga was supposed to meet with other opposition party whips with the view of establishing the standing of each of the parties.
No confirmation had been obtained as to whether the meeting would take place by the time of this report.
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