By Sylvia Nankya.
THE Speaker’s decision to expel 78 members of Parliament whose political affiliation changed before the end of their term is arbitrary, misguided and inconsistent with the Ugandan legal system, according to the former Nakasongola county MP, Peter Nyombi.
His discontent is embedded in a 14-page letter addressed to the speaker Edward Kiwanuka Sekandi and copied to President Yoweri Museveni, the Vice President, The Chief Justice and the Leader of the Opposition. It’s also copied to all members of Parliament and the chairman of the electoral commission.
Speaker Edward Kiwanuka Sekandi evicted the members after the Constitutional Court ruled that it was illegal for independent MPs to stand for elections on any party ticket and also for political party MPs to contest as independents without first resigning in line with article 83 of the constitution.
The ruling is contained in a Judgement in a case filed by George Owor against the Attorney General and William Okecho, the NRM flag-bearer for the West Budama North constituency.
But Nyombi blames the speaker for rushing into making a decision which eventually contradicted the court advice and denied a big portion of Ugandans a chance to be represented in Parliament.
He said court called for corrective measures without restricting the speaker’s authority on what sort of collective measure he had to take.
“Court did not direct you to take particular action, but urged you to take appropriate action. Therefore denying 1/3 of the country an opportunity to be represented in parliament cannot be taken to be appropriate action,” Nyombi added.
However, Ssekandi dismissed the complaints, saying the affected MPs and their lawyers went to court and agreed they had erred.
“I don’t have time to waste on that. I am not the Supreme Court. The court ordered that we take action. I can’t oppose the Supreme Court,” said Ssekandi.
He demanded that if the speaker insists on the implementation of the directive, he should also consider the legality of the legislation that were passed and resolutions that were made in the presence of the 78 members.
Nyombi suggests that it would be necessary to clean the Hansard of such legislation with the same swiftness with which the members of parliament were told to vacate their seats to avoid wastage of time in litigation. He sites the controversial Cultural leaders Bill as one of the legislation whose legality should be examined.
He also blamed the speaker for bundling them in the same boat without giving them an opportunity to be heard although they had consulted him and he advised that they were free to contest in the various political parties since the August 2010 primaries had nothing to do with the 8th parliament.
Nyombi contends that their decision is not in anyway inconsistent with article 83 of the constitution which compels any person who changes political affiliation to vacate his seat in Parliament.
“Your decision tends to be consistent with the wrong view and erroneous presumption that the provisions of article 83 were intended merely to prevent members of parliament from switching over parties and hence contradicting other constitutional provisions on freedom of association” he added.
Nyombi said the manner in which they were evicted from parliament was an insult to the electorate and the entire body of members of Parliament.
“Changing the Locks of the doors of the offices previously occupied by the 78 members, is an insult to parliament and the implication of that action is that you are presiding over a parliament comprising of people with no integrity” Nyombi added. Ends-
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