By Jackson Onyango
The Rules, Privileges and Discipline Committee of Parliament chaired by Mr. Abdu Katuntu resumed the hearing of misconduct allegations brought against Mityana Municipality MP, Francis Zaake on Monday morning.
The Committee took a brief break following a request by Zaake’s legal representative Erias Lukwago to allow him attend to engagements outside the country.
Zaake faces two cases of misconduct that the committee is yet to dispose of, one of them backlogged from November 2022 when Zaake is said to have behaved in a violent manner when the House was in session.
Mr Ignatius Kasirye, the Director Clerks, Parliament of Uganda is the first witness to interface with the committee.
“The House was considering matters of national importance then Hon Zaake rose on a point of procedure, the Speaker allowed him to continue and he raised the issue of abduction of citizens and I remember him saying that the issue had reached a critical crisis, especially in the central region,” Kasirye narrated.
“Along the way, the Speaker called for his attention and requested him to resume his seat because according to the Speaker, he wanted to give him further guidance but Honorable Zaake did not resume his seat. He continued to argue with the Speaker and there was a lot of commotion in the House,” added.
During the previous hearing, Lukwago asked the committee to grant his client permission to also bring in their own witnesses who they say were seated closer to Zaake on the day the incident happened, one of them being the Chief Opposition Whip John Baptist Nambeshe.
The second case the committee plans to handle later this week pertains to the concern of misconduct allegations made against Zaake by the Rakai Woman MP, Juliet Kinyamatama.
A video in which Kinyamatama accuses Zaake of having made shaming remarks against her at a rally in her constituency on Independence Day was reviewed the last time the committee converged, however, Zaake’s team declined to answer whether he was the person in the video.
