MPs to meet Kadaga over funding for electoral violence probe

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The chairperson of the Human Rights Committee Janepher Nantume Egunyu has said she will meet the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga over lack of funds to investigate electoral violence.

Last week, the committee postponed investigations into cases of electoral violence due to lack of funding. Kadaga had directed the committee to take stock of the human rights violations that marred the electoral process.

As part of the investigations, the committee had planned to interact with presidential candidates, security agencies including the police and the army as well as the victims.

According to Egunyu, she now plans to meet Kadaga and the Clerk to Parliament Jane Kibirige on the funding.

“We have been limited by funds, and we cannot go to the field to interact with victims because we do not have the money. We are told there is no money for committee and fieldwork,” Egunyu said.

During plenary on Wednesday, Kadaga asked the committee to expedite their work since incidents of human rights violations are still going on.

Kadaga was responding to a matter of National Importance raised by the Opposition chief whip Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda who said that he wanted to give evidence before the committee but they could not be traced.

She also said that she had received a petition from Uganda Young Democrats (UYD) over continued rights violations by security. Kadaga also forwarded the petition to the Human Rights Committee for scrutiny.

Ssemujju told MPs that journalists were brutalized by security personnel as they covered the National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu who was delivering a petition to the United Nations Human Rights.

In an earlier interview with URN, Hellen Kaweesa, the Acting Director of Corporate and Public Affairs of Parliament said that budget cuts have affected most departments of Parliament because of the COVID-19 pandemic. She says that some activities including committee work have been halted.

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URN