As Opposition we Shall Obey the Court ORDER – Betty Nambooze Bakireke

THE Mukono Municipality legislator Hon. Betty Nambooze Bakireke who doubles as the opposition spokesperson, has today informed that the opposition MPs will obey the court ruling and return the 20M shillings allocated to each of them by Parliament in the bid to fight the Covid19.

While addressing journalist at her home in Nakabago a suburb in Mukono Municipality as opposition they will not appeal against the court ruling and right now they are in talks with other fellow opposition MPs to comply with the court ruling and return the money.

She said that is not agreeing with depositing the money to the District COVID 19 task force since they are not legally constituted and that court ordering so was not in order.

Nambooze also requested speaker Kadaga not to accuse MPs who differed with Parliament and took the house to courts of law.

As such events unfold, it’s clear that this matter has regrettably been hijacked by the Executive to further its plan of undermining the legislature. Accordingly, after consultations with the Leader of Opposition Hon. Aol Ochan Betty and the Opposition Chief whip Hon. Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda,I wish to address the general public as here under;

1. That in principle the Opposition in Parliament welcomes the court’s decision and Opposition MPs and independents aligned to the Opposition are therefore advised to comply with the Court Order without any further arguments. 

2. That we commend Court for the impressive and prompt manner in which this matter has been disposed of. We pray that the same standard is applied to all other matters referred to the courts especially in relation to dubious payments that maybe made to Members of Parliament and other politicians.

3. That, we maintain that never at any time did the opposition work under compromise or act selfishly in regard to the said payments. And that as Opposition MPs, we were moved to support the release of money to MPs whom we know are nearer the people than the executive because of the suffering of our people who include children, elderly, women and other vulnerable Ugandans who have naturally turned to their representatives for support after the executive has failed on its mandate in health and disaster management roles.

 We therefore regret that the Humanitarian issues arising from Covd19  may have moved us to act emotionally in a manner that is slightly below the standards expected of us as the alternative Government.

4.That we  are still of the view that Members of Parliament  have a  moral and statutory duty working both individually and with others to fight  the COVID 19 pandemic and to mobilize for resources to bail out their starving constituents. This is especially so, because the executive  that was allocated 59 billions by Parliament to procure food for the vulnerable Ugandans has either failed or acted so slow in delivering food leading to the starvation of many of our people especially in urban areas.

5. That, its our sincere hope and belief that it was only by coincidence that the Order as issued by Court yesterday save for the Court seal carries exactly  the same wording and remedy as proposed by Mr. Museveni while addressing the Nation on Tuesday evening. We are greatly taken a back more so, when the remedy given by Court is for public funds to be sent to the District Taskforces that were established and operate without any legal instrument.

6.That, we are using this opportunity to appeal to the Judiciary to  desist from being used by the executive in criminalising and  maliciously prosecuting opposition leaders who out of the call of duty and kindness have come out to donate food to starving Ugandans.

7.That for further guidance  on this matter and need to move together as opposition in Parliament, we shall have a meeting on Tuesday at 10:00am in the Parliament Conference Hall preceding that of the Parliamentary Commission that is being held today Thursday. On Tuesday soon after our meeting we shall jointly address a Press Conference at the same venue.

On the same issue of returning the 20M shillings allocated to Members Parliament, Hon. Robert Kafeero Ssekitoleko of Nakifuma County informed media that he will wait for the Parliamentary Commission to decide on this money because it is the one which decided to allocate it.

He said this while delivering 10 tones of Posho, a car and five hundred thousand shillings for fuel to the District task force which he asked to be distributed to Nakifuma County.