The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Ochan disagreed with Kadaga on this.
“I have enormous respect for her and I agree that she is the head of parliament, which makes her the custodian of our laws,” Ochan told The Independent, “That is why she should not be the one that abuse the same laws and best practices.”
For Ochan, respecting those practices means respecting the offices below her. She said that indeed that is why the speaker previously wrote requesting and not commanding.
Going forward, the LoP said they would be insisting on the rules and procedures.
“We know she has the power to bend some rules,” Ochan said, “We will insist on what is right and see how she handles the situation.”
But Ochan appears to have a rebellion in her ranks as among and others appear equally determined to have their way.
“We have one leader in Parliament,” she said, “that is the Speaker. If she says we leave, we have no problem. We have an assignment that we must complete.”
FDC fighting regime sympathisers
COSASE has become a hot potato for its investigation into the central bank’s closure of seven defunct banks, namely; Teffe, Greenland Bank; formerly owned by the late Sulaiman Kigundu, National Bank of Commerce (NBC), formerly owned by tycoon Amos Nzeyi, former Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, among others, International Bank, formerly owned by the Emma Kato family, Cooperative Bank, Global Trust Bank, and Crane Bank.
The COSASE team has over the last two months revealed several excesses by officials at BoU notably that they closed and sold the assets of these banks irregularly.
The committee had not concluded this work by the end of the year and its tenure and that of 11 others expires on Jan.13. Realising that COSASE would not have concluded by that time, Kadaga agreed and that they be given more time and requested the opposition leadership to allow the team to go ahead until Feb.20.
However FDC, which as a result of having the biggest number of opposition MPs selects leaders of several committees, declined the request.
They instead insisted that Katuntu and his deputy, among, step down and are replaced by new appointees Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa and Rubaga North’s Moses Kasibante as chairman and deputy respectively.
Semujju Nganda told The Independent that as the opposition, they would stick to the law in the face of Kadaga’s request “that has since turned into a command”.
Asked whether he did not share in concerns the change of the COSASE leadership could affect the investigation, Nganda said he stands for what is right and legal.
“I do not care who and what they affect,” he told The Independent, “If you allow these kinds of excuses you end up with a situation where rules are always waived at peoples’ whims.”
Semujju said that he had looked at the rules guiding parliament and they did not allow that sort of extension.
He said not even the Speaker of Parliament is allowed to extend the tenure once it has come to an end.
