Uganda: It Is Only Shs50,000 for Sitting in Committee, We Won't Come - MP Ssebamala

27 November 2023
Nile Post (Kampala)
By Crispus Mugisha

Bukoto Central Member of Parliament Richard Ssebamala has lambasted the Speaker of Parliament for belittling Members of the Opposition and trivializing their protest by insisting on banning them from committees, foreign trips and apparently from the canteen.

Ssebamala was speaking during an interview on NBS TV's Morning Breeze.

According to Ssebamala, the major point of focus should and remains that Ugandans are missing and can not be accounted for, hence bringing all sorts of tiny arguments and punishments is only aimed at derailing their course.

He says that the sitting allowances for committees are only Shs50,000 and so little to arm-twist any Member of Parliament worth their name.

"The committee allowances are Shs50,000, we can sincerely forfeit them, how many times do we even sit, it could be once or twice in a month!" he said.

"How much is on trips, you are in the UK and getting $720 per day and using half of that to sleep and eat, you will return here with Shs7m in a week. This is money you can earn as an MP from other businesses in Uganda. So if there is an MP who can not earn that, then they can not teach people how to make money," he added.

Ssebamala says that the argument should not stretch to the canteen and the like as it would be "belittling"

"That is belittling the argument into canteen, trips, and committees. The focus is that people were bundled and taken by government agencies and we need them back, that is the argument," he said.

Ssebamala's comments came a little too soon for fellow legislator Robert Ssekitoleko ( Bamunanika County) who was defenestration from a committee on legal and parliamentary affairs this morning after the committee chair Fox Odoi ( West Budama) caught him offside.

Fox Odoi cited that the directive of the Speaker to the opposition legislators was to ensure they keep away from any parliament-related activity so as to successfully entrench their protest. However, Ssekitoleko was this morning properly sat for the committee proceedings before he was asked to dismiss himself.

In the aftermath of the scenario, Ssekitoleko insisted that the Leader of the Opposition had not ordered the ( opposition) MPs to withdraw their services to the committee adding that he was fully invited for the session.

Read the original article on Nile Post.

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