State Minister for Lands Housing and Urban Development Persis Namuganza has stormed out of the Committee on Rules, Privileges, and Discipline investigating her conduct on allegations that she brought Parliament into disrepute.
Appearing before the committee earlier today, Namuganza said the committee should disclose the evidence of her undermining Parliament before she proceeds to defend herself.
Namuganza is alleged to have said that Parliament is powerless and unable to censure her. This was in relation to her involvement in the Naguru-Nakawa land allocations.
Parliament indicted Namuganza in May 2022 following a report by the Adhoc Committee on Naguru-Nakawa land where she was faulted for falsifying a presidential directive that saw Uganda Land Commission allocate land to certain entities.
MPs during the plenary sitting of Wednesday, 13 July 2022 said Namuganza has since ridiculed Parliament and its leadership in relation to the findings of the committee.
Tororo District Woman MP Sarah Opendi said she read posts by the minister alleging that the Adhoc committee had been formed to fight her as opposed to investigating the land saga.
“It surprised me when I read postings by this minister that it was formed in bad faith. I wonder whether you [Speaker] form these committees to fight people,” Opendi said.
Bukooli County Central MP Solomon Silwany said the minister had been seen on TV questioning the powers of the Speaker of Parliament in initiating the ad hoc committee.
“Rule 190 of the Rules of Procedures gives the Speaker powers to form ad hoc committees,” said Silwany.
The Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa said it would be a dangerous omission by Parliament to let its members go out and ridicule its work. “If a member of a family cannot respect that family, that family is more or less useless; the decisions we make as this House will not be respected by the public,” he said.
Tayebwa guided that if Namuganza felt offended by Parliament’s resolutions, she should have utilized the provisions of the Rules of Procedure where any aggrieved member is free to make a statement of personal explanation.
He directed the Committee on Rules, Privileges, and discipline to commence investigations into the alleged misconduct of Namuganza and report back within two weeks.
