Controversial United Kingdom Member of Parliament Dr. Paul Williams has called on his government to standup to president Museveni’s behavior of brutalizing and torture legislators.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Stockton South MP asked John Bercow, the Speaker of Parliament to express solidarity with fellow MPs in commonwealth countries who are trying to protect democracy.
He said charismatic brave and popular Ugandan and an MP under his name Robert Kyagulanyi was on August 13 along with other politicians arrested, detained beaten and tortured by security agencies after holding the final rallies a head of local by-election.
“This is not the first time that president Museveni is doing it, last year MP Betty Nambooze was beaten by security forces in Ugandan parliament, and other MPs were brutalized as they resisted constitutional amendment to remove presidential age limit,” he said.
He asked parliament to task UK government to take actions against president Museveni under United Nations (UN) and commonwealth using Magnistsky legislation.
Magnitsky law applies globally and it authorizes government to sanction human rights offenders, freeze their assets, and ban them from entering U.S and other countries.
The MP’s concern was later backed up by Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons and Conservative Member of Parliament for South Northamptonshire, Andrea Leadsom saying the honorable gentleman has raised a crucial point.
She said last year, she looked into issues of common of MPs of commonwealth nations, female MPs under violence and threats. She said it is important to raise the issue of freedom of speech and expression and vowed to spearhead that particular issue in case Paul Williams.
During this year’s meeting of commonwealth heads of government’s that took place UK, Williams asked President Yoweri Museveni to leave power, saying that the Ugandan leader is ‘a barrier’ to development.
He asked UK International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt to use the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to tell President Museveni that it’s time to go.