Opposition Chief Whip Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda has protested the proposal to have the Prime Minister’s Question Time changed from Wednesday to Thursday, warning President Yoweri Museveni against casually handling state affairs.
Ssemujju’s remarks followed a proposal tabled on the floor of Parliament by Ruth Nankabirwa, the Government Chief Whip, to change the Prime Minister’s question time from Wednesday to Thursday.
“The Head of State chose Wednesday to be Cabinet Day and when we sit in Entebbe, we find it very difficult to catch up with Parliament yet we want the Prime Minister to be here on time to answer questions. So, it is a humble request that we change from Wednesday to Thursday so that the Prime Minister can be here,” Nankabirwa said.
But Ssemujju dubbed Nankabirwa’s request as ‘ridicule to Parliament’ and wondered why President Museveni ‘is afraid of sitting in his office at Twin Towers’, but “keeps on holding cabinet meetings at his residence in Rwakitura and State House-Entebbe.”
Further, Ssemujju wondered if Parliament business would come to a standstill if Museveni woke up one day and demanded to have cabinet meetings be held at his country home in Rwakitura.
“Why doesn’t the President want to sit in President’s Office to execute work (of the President’s Office), he even has offices here. This is a casual way of handling state matters that you take them to your residence all the time,” The Kira Municipality MP said.
Ssemujju added: “Now, instead of going to his residence to rest, he is taking there cabinet meetings. I want to invite this Parliament to reject the justification.”
The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) member pleaded with MPs to reject the justification fronted by Government, warning that approval of the proposal based on Nankabirwa’s assertions would be tantamount to Parliament is institutionalizing the residence of the President as an office.
“I was looking at the practical bit of it; the Chief Whip saying they delay there, sometimes the meetings take long. But to come here and tell Parliament to institutionalize the residence of the President as sitting place of cabinet; we have a cabinet library here where meetings have been historically taking,” Ssemujju charged.
He demanded to have the Government Chief Whip withdraw the particular justification, terming it a ridicule to Parliament and asking MPs to deal with the matter on its own merit.
But when the question was put across, the MPs voted to have the Rules and Procedures amended, paying a deaf ear to Ssemujju’s arguments.
