Plenary Cancelled Abruptly

Parliament was this afternoon called off abruptly drawing protests from MPs who had planned to move a motion to punish the prime minister for contempt of parliament. MPs were informed of the cancellation of the plenary at 2pm, just a few minutes to the plenary in a notice issued by the clerk to parliament.

 

 

According to the notice, the clerk to parliament informed the MPs that the plenary would not sit until Tuesday November 8th because business was not ready. Interestingly though, the live monitoring screen within parliament which is usually switched on only when the house has plenary, was on.

 

 

The abrupt cancellations of the plenary didn’t go down well with MPs who had prepared to move a motion to punish, Amama Mbabazi, the prime minister for contempt of parliament because the matter was on the agenda of the house. The MPs led by the lead Petitioner Abdi Fadhil Chemaswet, Kween MP, sought audience with the speaker to no avail.

 

 

Together with his colleagues, Chemaswat was informed that the Speaker would be heading to attend another urgent matter outside parliament. Disappointed with the response the MP moved to address a news conference expressing their dissatisfaction with the manner in which events were unfolding.

MPs Cerinah Nebanda and Wilfred Niwagaba, seconders of the motion, told journalists that they would give the Speaker another chance to consider their motion next week.  

//Cue In: “When we went to the Speaker’s office…….”

Cue Out: “……so we can only get that on Monday.”//

Addressing a press conference this afternoon, the opposition in parliament, led by Jack Sabiti, Rukiga MP accused government of mounting intense pressure on the Speaker.