The Leader of Opposition (LoP), Joel Ssenyonyi, has condemned the violence that marred the Coffee Bill in Parliament last week.
Last week, parliament descended into violence as legislators discussed rationalisation bills. The bills, which include the National Coffee Amendment Bill, were aimed at cutting government’s expenditure and minimising duplications in ministries.
As the debate intensified, Kilak North MP Anthony Akol pounced on Mityana County MP Francis Zaake after later trying to lift his legs for allegedly occupying his seat.
However, Ssenyonyi noted that although Parliament is a place for intellectual discourse, this wasn’t the case last week as it descended into something else, marred with violence and harassment of MPs and journalists.
He stated that upon resumption of Parliament from recess, they are going to demand answers from Speaker Anita Among on the identities of the goons that attacked MPs in the chambers, since she ordered to have the remarks made by Ssenyonyi last week expunged from the parliamentary record.
“The Speaker was saying that the remarks I made were defamatory, and so she ordered that my remarks be expunged from the Hansard. When we return to Parliament, I will ask her, now that you are saying I was wrong to claim it was security operatives, you tell us who raided parliament, now that you know. At the tail end, she was thanking the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Internal Affairs, so she has an idea, so she has to give us answers,” he said.
“We did see journalists being pushed out of the chambers of the House and detained. The time I have been here at parliament, the time I covered Parliament, I have never seen that. Problematic. Journalists were hounded out; lights were switched off, but this time because they had the criminal intent; that is why they sent journalists away, locked them somewhere, and then goons descended. And by the way, network connectivity was also jammed; one couldn’t make a call because the network was jammed. This is despicable; it is unacceptable,” he stated.
He encouraged people to keep growing coffee because it is possible that the government wants to demoblise them and discourage them from growing coffee.
“We want to encourage Ugandans in all regions across the country to please grow even more coffee because the fight for coffee hasn’t ended. Some think the fight was wrapped up, no. Please grow as much coffee as you can. General Museveni may think he has had his day. No. Coffee is going to be here much longer than him because, as we know, it remains for generations and generations,” he said.
Following the fracas Speaker Among suspended ten MPs who include: Francis Zaake, Anthony Akol, Shamim Malende, Wakayima Musoke, Aloysius Mukasa, and Charles Tebandeke. Others are Isiah Sassaga and Asinansi Nyakato, Frank Kabuye, Evans Kanyike, and Susan Mugabi.
