Kadaga Wants Government to Keep MPs' opponents out of the Constituencies
With most Members of Parliament trapped in Kampala owing to travel restrictions announced last month by President Yoweri Museveni, fears are growing among the lawmakers that this will give their opponents an advantage over them.
The fears were expressed on the floor of Parliament on Thursday with the Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga calling on the government to stop the parliamentarians’ opponents from capitalizing on the current lockdown to speak ill against the legislators.
According to Kadaga, leaving the 2021 Parliamentary aspirants to freely roam in the constituencies plays to the MPs’ disadvantage yet the political field needs to be on a leveled ground.
“I have received reports that as we are here obeying the Presidential directives, quarantining ourselves in the city of Kampala, there are people moving around in constituencies not only conducting meetings but distributing food,” Kadaga said as she opened Thursday’s plenary sitting.
“Our political opponents are busy distributing food and telling voters that MPs have abandoned you. This is a matter government must take seriously. If the President said there are no political or religious meetings but some few people in the countryside are continuing against our interest, this must stop,” Kadaga said.
Meanwhile, Kadaga has advised MPs to stop commenting about the Shs10 billion supplementary budget allocations to mitigate the spread of coronavirus disease in the country.
The allocation attracted public outrage especially when it emerged that each of the 459 MPs will be given Shs 20 million to sensitize their constituents about COVID-19.
“I want to appeal to MPs, the issue of Shs10Bn is an issue of the Parliament Commission, don’t continue talking about it because you don’t know about it; it is not your business, just go on with your lives,” Kadaga told the MPs.
