Clerk to parliament receives notice of censure against Tumwine

Kampala, Uganda  | THE INDEPENDENT |  Mbwatekamwa Gaffa, the Kasambya county MP has presented to the Clerk to Parliament a censure motion against Security Minister  Gen  Elly Tumwine.

Parliament on  Wednesday started the process of censuring Tumwine for frustrating investigations into torture of Ugandans and also blocking Members of Parliament in the Human Rights Committee for doing their work.

The house amended the human rights committee report to include closing all safe houses in the country and initiating a censure motion against Tumwine.

According to the Parliaments Rule of Procedure, a member who wants to censure a Minister shall notify the Clerk in writing of their intention, citing the grounds for the proposed censure motion and giving detailed particulars supporting such grounds. 

Mbwatekamwa says he has four strong grounds for the censure motion. He says specifically they are looking at contempt of Parliament as he prohibited members from visiting safe houses, incompetence following his alleged failure to implement parliament decisions on torture and maintaining the existence of safe houses, indiscipline looking at how he undermines colleagues when he appears before the committee and mismanagement of his Ministry as he has used his powers to stop the committee from meeting other people.

He says hopefully next week they can start collecting signatures from members to censure Tumwine.   

Butambala MP Muwanga Kivumbi who presented the motion says that this is a unique motion because it originates from a Parliament resolution and it is not like some individuals are trying to witch-hunt Tumwine. 

He says several members are for the motion and they will proceed depending on how the matter is received by the people.

According to the Parliament rules, the Clerk shall within three days upon receipt of the Notice of Censure notify Parliament by pinning on the Members’ notice board and depositing a copy with the Sergeant-at-Arms for 10 working days.

At least one third of the Members of Parliament should appended their signatures on the list  if the motion is to proceed. But If after ten working days less than one third of all the Members have appended their signatures on the list, the Notice of Censure shall lapse. 

The accused has a chance to defend themselves in regards to the matter.

In March 1999, Parliament censured  Finance State minister Sam Kutesa  over alleged misuse of office and influence peddling.  

In 2011, the Minister for the Presidency Kabakumba Matsiko was forced to resign after MPs had collected over 140 signatures to censure her following alleged theft of a Uganda Broadcasting Corporation- UBC mast.

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