UGANDA: Court to determine fate of NRM ‘rebel’ MPs today

By ANTHONY WESAKA.

The High Court in Kampala will today determine the fate of three NRM ‘rebel’ MPs, who are accused of indiscipline.

Last Thursday, MPs Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East), Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga) and Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West) dragged their party to court over allegations that they were not obeying party regulations and risked being expelled. They are seeking court to block their party from hearing the disciplinary proceedings against them.

‘Unlawful’

The MPs claim that the party is hearing the proceedings without their side of the story. The date was set yesterday by registrar of High Court John Eudes Keiterima after listening to arguments from both the petitioners ( ‘rebel MPs’) and respondents (NRM) on whether to grant an interim order or not. The legislators claim that once expelled from the party, they will have no option of appealing against its decision since its final.

Accusations

Court documents show that Mr Niwagaba and Mr Tinkasiimire, who are members of the parliamentary forum on oil, opposed the party’s position on the oil debate last year. The MPs also allegedly protested the ruling of the Speaker of Parliament to vote on the oil Bill on November 26, 2012, contrary to the NRM Parliamentary Caucus decision to recommit the Bill to voting.

NRM through their lawyer Geoffrey Kandebee yesterday asked court to dismiss the application on grounds that the ‘rebel’ MPs wrongly sued the party.

Source: Daily Monitor (19/03/2013): http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Court-to-determine-fate-of-NRM--rebel--MPs-today/-/688334/1723816/-/s3lvkqz/-/index.html