A section of Opposition MPs have clashed with Speaker Jacob Oulanyah over a meeting organized by the Minister of Education, Janet Museveni (pictured above) at Kololo Independence Grounds.
This was after the Speaker confirmed receiving a letter from Minister of Education on 16th November, requesting for a meeting with MPs to discuss the planned re-opening of schools at Kololo.
However, some MPs warned that this would set a precedent to other ministers to use this avenue to elude parliament scrutiny.
Speaker Oulanyah lashed out at MPs for using harsh words to express their concerns over tommmorow’s meeting.
“I watched some of the comments about this particular request and I have noticed the use of very strong language, which ordinarily as MPs we should try and resist from. You can give very strong opinion without strong words that can cause people to be anxious,” Oulanyah said.
However, Leader of Opposition, Mathias Mpuuga, who led the protest wondered if it would be right to describe the meeting as a community meeting and if it would be right for MPs to also invite their voters.
“It is an innovation but the danger of such an innovation, it will open Pandora box that ministers would run to speaker when they are avoiding consequential issues,” he said.
Ibrahim Ssemujju (Kira Municiaplity) asked Speaker not to be persuaded by a mere letter by the Minister of Education to sanitise the Kololo meeting before justifying under which rule the Minister of Education was summoning MPs to an informal meeting outside Parliament.
Ssemujju pleaded with Speaker not to attend the meeting but send Commissioner of Parliament to represent him saying, “I don’t know whether you are beyond persuasion having been persuaded by the letter. I want to take this opportunity to persuade you not to go for the meeting for the sake of this institution. I also need to be persuaded that she is doing so in good faith, she was even vetted on zoom.”
It was Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu West) who informed Parliament that sources within the Ministry of Education had informed him that the meeting would cost Shs1Bn and asked the Minister of Education to use that money to support reopening of schools and have the address at Parliament.
“As we are talking, there is no school in Uganda ready to start in January that has received even Shs200,000. But the preparation for tomorrow’s meeting is above Shs1Bn. That money would be used be taken to Kaabong to prepare the reopening of schools. This business is very dangerous. This is what Mugabe’s wife was doing,” Ssewungu said.
However, Speaker Oulanyah fired back at the MPs arguing that it wouldn’t be the first time that MPs have held meetings with Ministers outside Parliament and despite warning against doing so, the MPs have defied this caution and held meetings with entities outside Parliament.
He defended his decision saying the Ministry of Education had invited some Permanent Secretaries and Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) to the meeting which necessitated a venue outside Parliament.
“I have listened, I haven’t heard one ground that would make me think about changing the decision. When the matter was raised, I looked at the bigger picture. If there is any MP who hasn’t been part of this process, I want you to stand up. So why are we making things difficult to deal with such an important matter?” the Speaker said.
John Muyingo, State Minister for Higher Education however debunked reports that the Ministry of Education had spent Shs1bn on preparations for the Kololo meeting.
Ssemujju attempted to table a motion compelling the Minister of Education to present her statement before Parliament, but his request was quashed by Oulanyah who accused him of trying to use the back door to challenge his ruling.
