The Speaker of Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga together with the Attorney General met the affected MPs in a closed meeting that lasted over an hour. |
KAMPALA, Uganda
The Speaker of
Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and the Attorney General William Byaruhanga on
Thursday met the Members of Parliament who were expelled from the House by the
constitutional court.
Court
on December 27, 2019, nullified the election of six MPs from the newly created
municipalities on grounds that they were elected in constituencies that did not
exist.
This
followed a petition filed by former Bufumbira East MP Eddie Kwizera challenging
the legality of a number of constituencies created after the 2016 general
elections.
Kwizera
argued that the six constituencies were illegally created by parliament and
asked court to declare them null and void.
However,
both the Electoral Commission (EC) and the Attorney General have appealed
against the ruling.
The
affected MPs are the Sheema Municipality MP Elioda Tumwesigye who is also the
Minister of science, technology and innovation, the Bugiri Municipality MP
Asuman Basalirwa, Patrick Ochan (Apac Municipality), Tarsis Rwaburindore
(Ibanda Municipality), Lokii Abraham (Kotido Municipality) and Hashim Suleiman
of Nebbi Municipality.
The
meeting which took place in the Speaker’s chambers and closed to the media
lasted over an hour. Mr Byaruhanga left the meeting earlier but the MPs
remained with the Speaker some more time.
The
MPs confirmed meeting Ms Kadaga and Mr Byaruhanga but declined to divulge
further details.
“It
is not our fault, the problem now is for the people we represent. But the good
thing both the electoral commission and the Attorney General are challenging
the matter” one of the affected MPs said off the record.
Attempts
to speak to the Attorney General on the matter were futile. - URN
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