By Watera Atai,
NATIONAL
Deputy speaker of parliament Rt. Hon. Thomas Bangirana Tayebwa has raised an accusing finger against individuals issuing threats to legislators investigating seroius cases under committees of parliament.
Tayebwa warned warned warned the individuals he did not disclose to desist from interfering with the work of Parliament.
“The whole of last week the media has been awash with stories of investigations being conducted by one of our committees, which is Cosase. I have seen different reactions, some of them from members of this House; making comments that would bring disrepute the image of the House,” Tayebwa warnwd.
He issued the warnings in his opening remarks during the Tuesday plenary sitting.
“I want to caution those interfering with the way we are doing our work as a House; calling and threatening our MPs or trying to belittle this House when conducting its duty to stop,” he said.
He urged MPs with concerns on the operationalisation of parliament to raise it with the leadership of Parliament who include the Speaker, Leader of Opposition, Leader of Government business and the party whips.
“We derive our powers from Article 90 of the Constitution, when you also look at Rule 308 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament and also Section 8 of the Parliamentary Rules and Privileges Act, we are supposed to do our work without interference, but we need to do it responsibly. On some occasions we might go overboard but if there is any issue with the conduct of business, this House has a leadership,” the Ruhinda North MP stated.
“Where you feel any excesses on how a committee is handling its work, please reach out to us. I like how the Attorney General usually does it; he approaches the presiding officers of the House. We all have a responsibility to protect the image of Parliament,” he added.
This follows reports by the COSASE Chairperson Joel Ssenyonyi and other members alleging that they have received death threats over the ongoing probe into Uganda Airlines Boss, Jennifer Bamuturaki.
TheNakawa West legislator, last week told reports that he had received a telephone call from tourism minister Tom Butime, a tribesmen to Bamuturaki threatening to cause harm to him if he does not stay away from the investigations.
“Yesterday,I got a call from Tourism Minister Tom Butime,threatening & intimidating me over Uganda Airlines probe,bse apparently Jennifer Bamuturaki is his relative.I’ve reported this at CPS,Ref GEF 60/2022 for it to be on record.
No one,I repeat,no one will cause me to back down.” Ssenyonyi posted on Twitter
On Saturday, he recorded statements at Kampala Central Police Station on allegations of threatening violence.
“My duty is to inform them [Police]. When thieves attack you in the night, you call the police. Whether they come or not is another matter,” Ssenyonyi said on Saturday,
