Horrible!! NUP MP Chased Out Of Parliament Committee Sitting Like A Chicken Thief On Speaker Anita Among’s Orders

A National Unity Platform (NUP) Member of Parliament faced expulsion from the Legal, Parliamentary Affairs Committee Sitting on November 27, 2023.

Hon. Robert Ssekitoleko, representing Bamunanika County, was ousted by Fox Odoi, the West Budama North East MP who chaired the committee. Odoi cited the Speaker’s directive, barring MPs boycotting plenary sessions from participating in committee meetings and other parliamentary activities until they end the boycott.

Opposition MPs have been staging a prolonged protest, highlighting human rights abuses by state security organs, including allegations of abduction, suspected extra-judicial killings, and arbitrary detention of opposition supporters.

The Speaker, in response, instructed the Clerk to Parliament to restrict non-attending MPs from committee sessions and international parliamentary affairs.During the committee sitting, Odoi, referencing the Speaker’s guidance, requested MP Ssekitoleko to leave until he officially returns to plenary.

Ssekitoleko, who had been seated next to Odoi, complied and exited the committee room.

“Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament guided Parliament and all its Committees that our colleagues who are currently boycotting Plenary should not participate in the meetings of Parliamentary Committees and field visits by the Committees and I know that the Hon. Member of Parliament for Bamunanika is in that category . Am therefore constrained to request him to take leave until such a time that they officially report to plenary,” Odoi said before sending MP Ssekitoleko packing.

In a related development last week , Speaker Anita Among, in her communication to the house, reiterated that boycotting legislators would be ineligible for foreign trips or conferences organized through Parliament.

She emphasized her commitment to penalizing non-compliant members, citing Rule 112 of the Rules of Procedure, which allows expulsion from the house after 15 consecutive unauthorized absences from plenary.