PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE DIVIDED ON DISCIPLINARY PROCEDURE

By Edwin Muhumuza

Former Leader of opposition in Parliament and MP Agago North Ogenga Latigo says the committee on rules, privileges and discipline cannot investigate the actions of legislators because it illegal.

The move by the speaker to direct the committee to investigate the conduct of legislators opposed to lifting the presidential age limit from the constitution has been faulted by former leader of opposition Ogenga Latigo. He says conditions under which it was instituted are wrong since the speaker abandoned the house.

This following the nasty scenes that rocked the house last week in which Special Forces raided parliament to evict members of parliament on the directive of the speaker who had instructed the Sergeant At Arms to take action.

However in their first sitting,the parliamentary committee on rules, privileges and discipline is divided on how to investigate the conduct of legislators who sang the national anthem in protest of plans to lift the presidential age limit from the constitution after the speaker had suspended 25 of them.

Members submissions were laced with  political undertones of witch hunt based on party lines. The chairman, Hon Kenneth Obote Oboth cationed members to put political differences aside to investigate an incident that has cast the speaker Rt.Hon.Rebecca Kadaga in wrong light and even parliament.

He reiterated that it was not time to go deep into the technicalities of the matter at this stage noting that they would go ahead to come up with a list of legislators to face disciplinary action based on CCTV footage of that day with focus on how members behaved .