President Museveni greets Mr Amama Mbabazi while Vice President Edward Ssekandi and Speaker Rebecca Kadaga look on. File photo
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2013/02/is-speak-rebecca-kadaga-sinking-into.html
FIRST READ:
Uganda Women Politicians and their Empowerment without power: When Speaker Rebecca Kadaga Committed Political Suicide by a timid refusal to jump over Museveni’s ‘Dead body’ : MPs protest as Kadaga blocks recall
Is Speak Rebecca Kadaga sinking into oblivion: Kadaga stops probe into OPM cash scam: I pity Pentecostal pastors who think Kadaga will pass the Anti-Homosexuality bill.
Expelled NRM MPs cannot lose their seats – Kadaga
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Expelled-NRM-MPs-retain-their-seats/-/688334/1799668/-/120bfo8z/-/index.html
By Yasiin Mugerwa
Posted Thursday, May 2 2013 at 15:23
The Speaker of parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has this Thursday afternoon
ruled that the four expelled NRM rebel MPs cannot lose their seats.In delivering her verdict responding to a letter in which the NRM Secretary General, Mr Amama Mbabazi was demanding her to declare the MPs’ seats vacant, Ms Kadaga said that the 1995 Constitution does not provide for the expulsion of MPs.
She asked the NRM party to consider that the framers of the Constitution dropped the Constitutional amendment during the seventh Parliament.
Therefore, I am not persuaded and I will not direct the clerk to Parliament declare the MPs seats vacant,” ruled Ms Kadaga adding that Article 83 of the Constitution which the NRM party had wanted to invoke to cause by-elections could not be used to eject the rebel MPs from Parliament.
Making a statement in Parliament this afternoon on the fate of the expelled MPs, Ms Kadaga said the MPs cannot lose their seats after expulsion by the political party and that she has a Constitutional mandate ensure that the rule of law thrives. Ms Kadaga has also quoted the Henry Tumukunde case details.
Museveni, Mbabazi sign anti-Kadaga petition
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni--Mbabazi-sign-anti-Kadaga-petition/-/688334/1859726/-/e23n4l/-/index.html
By EPHRAIM KASOZI & JULIET KIGONGO
Posted Wednesday, May 22 2013 at 17:20
The
Ruling National Resistance Movement has petitioned the Constitutional Court challenging the
legality of the ruling by Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga that the four
MPs who were expelled from the party retain their seats.
On
May 2, Speaker Kadaga ruled that the four MPs; Theodre Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga),
Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa West), Mohammed Nsereko (Kampala Central) and Barnabas
Tinkasimire (Buyaga) should retain their seats in Parliament.
However,
the petition filed before the Constitutional
Court, signed by NRM chairperson Yoweri Museveni
and secretary general Amama Mbabazi alleges that Ms Kadaga’s ruling culminated
in the creation of a peculiar category of MPs unknown to the Constitution.
Through
their lawyers, NRM alleges that the expelled MPs who ceased being members of
the party are now "politically wild people who are aliens with no known
identity in the Parliament which contravenes the Constitution".
Below
are the profiles of the lawyers in the case.
John
Mary Mugisha: He is the lead counsel in the petition and senior legal
practitioner and a Commissioner of the Uganda Law Reform Commission. He formerly
worked as Senior Principal Lecturer at Law Development Centre (LDC). He is
former president of Uganda Law Society and Vice President of East African Law
Society. He was the lead counsel in the case of Severino Twinobusingye Vs
Attorney General in which Court awarded Shs13 billion.
Chris
John Bakiza: He is the managing advocate of M/s Bakiza and Co.
Advocates, former director of the Criminal Investigations Department of the
Uganda Police Force. Mr Bakiza is a constitutional law specialist and activist
of the Constitution and External Examiner of the LDC.
Michael
Akampurira: He is a Managing Partner of Akampurira and Partners
charged with commissioning of all documents in the petition and other related
matters. He is former lecturer at LDC.
Sam
Mayanja: He is a legal adviser to UN Economic Commission for Africa
and Legal Secretary to Uganda Development Bank as well as a teacher of law at Nkumba University
and Uganda Christian University.
Mr Mayanja is a World Bank Consultant and African Union Consultant who has
participated in presidential election petitions between Dr Kizza Besigye and
President Museveni. He was one of the prosecutors in the treason case against
Dr Besigye. He was hired as a consultant in the case.
Severino
Twinobusingye: He is the managing partner of Severino Twinobusingye
& Company Advocates, a Philosopher and psychologist specialized in
Constitutional Law and jurisprudence as well as election petitions.
AG Nyombi Attacks Kadaga Over Getting Impartial Lawyers over Expelled MPs
http://croozefm.com/2013/05/22/ag-nyombi-attacks-kadaga-over-getting-impartial-lawyers-over-expelled-mps/
The battle of saving or expelling NRM rebel MPs
from parliament roams on.On Wednesday the Attorney General Peter Nyombi
criticized the move by the speaker of parliament to get impartial lawyers to
deal with the case of the expelled MPs since -he ,the AG is leaning on the NRM
side.
Citing article 119 of the constitution ,Mr Nyombi
told reporters today that getting an independent legal team would necessitate
amending the constitution.
“Article 119 of the Constituton of the Republic of Uganda provides that there shall be an
Attorney General appointed by the President with the approval of Parliament and
shall be the principal legal advisor of government and therefore civil
proceedings by or against government shall be instituted by or against the
Attorney General,” stressed Nyombi.
On Monday speaker Kadaga announced
that parliament will get an independent legal team to defend it over her
decision to retain expelled NRM MPs in parliament ,something being challenged
by the NRM party.
Nyombi Warns Kadaga Over NRM Rebel MPs
http://chimpreports.com/index.php/news/politics/10199-speaker%E2%80%99s-statements-were-unconstitutional-says-attorney-general.html
Uganda’s Attorney General has
criticized the Speaker’s statements made in reference to the case against the
NRM rebel MPs calling them unconstitutional.
By
18 hours 35 minutes ago
As he addressed journalists on Wednesday
in the capital, Kampala, the Attorney General,
Hon. Peter Nyombi noted that it was provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda that he acts on behalf of
government to which the parliament is part.
“Article 119 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides that there shall be an
Attorney General appointed by the President with the approval of Parliament and
shall be the principal legal advisor of government and therefore civil
proceedings by or against government shall be instituted by or against the
Attorney General,” stressed Nyombi.
He further condemned the means used by the
Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga to express her views about the NRM rebel
MPs.
“The way she expressed her opinions was
insane. If she was aggrieved by my opinion she would have gone to court and
challenged me,” noted Nyombi.
Nyombi further noted that the Speaker does
not want to talk to him nor listen to his advice. He added that the speaker can
only lobby parliament for the amendment of the constitution before she gets
lawyers to represent parliament.
This came barely days after the Speaker
ruled out the possibility of the Attorney General representing parliament in
the cases of the embattled NRM rebel MPs and declared that parliament has
qualified lawyers to represent it other than the Attorney General.
Rebel MPs: Katuntu takes Nyombi to court
Thursday, 23 May 2013 22:15
Bugweri MP Abdu Katuntu was last evening set to
petition the constitutional court, challenging Attorney General Peter Nyombi’s
opinion, that MPs expelled by their parties should also lose their seats in
Parliament.
Katuntu’s constitutional petition will be argued
by a team of lawyers led by Peter Mukidi Walubiri.
“We have finalized everything and hopefully
before the close of today; the petition will accordingly be filed in the
constitutional court,” Walubiri told The Observer today.
On May 8, Nyombi wrote to Kadaga, advising her to
reverse her decision and expel from Parliament, four MPs expelled by the ruling
party, NRM. The four are Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Barnabas Tinkasiimire
(Buyaga West), Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East) and Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala
Central).
Nyombi argued that Kadaga’s ruling ignored some
provisions of the Constitution, particularly those that brought about a
multiparty dispensation. However, Katuntu contends that Nyombi’s opinion is bad
in law and has no legal foundation.
NRM files petition
On Monday, the ruling party, through its lawyers
including John Mary Mugisha, Chris Bakiza, Joseph Mayanja and Severino
Twinobusingye, filed a constitutional petition against Kadaga’s ruling in
relation to the four expelled MPs.
The petition, which has two supporting affidavits
sworn by the party chairperson, President Museveni, and Prime Minster Amama
Mbabazi, accuses Kadaga of creating a peculiar category of MPs unknown to the
Constitution by refusing to kick out the expelled MPs.
The ruling party petition says that, “as a party,
we are deprived of our parliamentary seats and those four constituencies are
not currently represented yet the electorate preferred the petitioners hitherto
flag bearers to represent them”.
The party further adds that there is no way MPs
nominated, sponsored and elected as candidates on the basis of the petitioners’
manifesto and ideology can continue to represent their constituencies.
The NRM petition follows an earlier one by Kibuku
MP Saleh Kamba and Marym Agasha, an NRM supporter, also challenging Kadaga’s
ruling. The two petitioners are represented by the same legal team that filed
the petition on behalf of the NRM party. Consequently, we have been told that
the NRM petition is likely to be consolidated with Kamba’s.
