Gulu City August 28—The first-ever Regional Parliament sitting since Uganda attained independence in 1962, opened today Thursday at Kaunda stadium in Gulu City, Northern Uganda with most of the seats meant for the opposition members of Parliament remaining empty.
Most of the opposition members of Parliament belong to the National Unity Platform NUP, whose party spokesperson and Leader of Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi, had instructed the opposition to boycott the Regional sittings terming them as wastage of taxpayers’ money. However some opposition members of Parliament from the Democratic Party DP, Forum for the Democratic Change FDC and some ‘rebel’ NUP legislators, rejected Ssenyonyi’s call and are attending the session.
Among the opposition MPs present at the Gulu sitting were Veronica Nanyondo (Bukomansimbi), Jimmy Lwanga (Njeru Municipality), Twaha Kagabo (Bukoto south), Kazibwe Bashir Mbaziira (Kawempe south), Abed Bwanika (Kimanya Kabonera), Lulume Bayiga (Buikwe south), Richard Lumu (Mityana south) and other members from various other opposition parties.
Prior to the opening of the Parliament sitting, a skeleton of Anti-corruption youths, holding anti-corruption banners and shouting “Stop corruption, Anita must resign”, staged a protest outside Kakanyero hotel in Gulu city early morning, where some MPs were staying before security dispersed them.
Opening the session at about 10am, the Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, attacked legislators opposed to regional sittings outside Kampala as selfish saying that the decision to hold regional sittings is a strategic move to bridge the gap between Parliament and the people of Uganda.
“These sittings are intended to bring Parliament closer to the people. And for today we shall only be discussing issues that affect the people of northern Uganda” she said. She dismissed the issue of wasting taxpayers’ money that each regional sitting will cost 5billion shillings, saying that no additional money was allocated for the scheduled sittings. “When you look at the budget of Parliament, no money was added for this sitting. So, the misinformation, the people who are moving the misinformation just don’t like the northern region”, she asserted.
Speaker Anita Among encouraged stakeholders to desist from opposing progressive initiatives aimed at fostering cohesion and growth and urged them to instead embrace unity and cooperation in furtherance of inclusive decision-making and progress.
The president is expected to attend the plenary sitting tomorrow Thursday.
The Regional Parliament sitting is expected to be extended to Western (in Mbarara), Eastern (in Mbale) and in Central Uganda (in Masaka).
