Makindye West Member of Parliament Allan Ssewanyana and his Kawempe North counterpart, Muhammad Ssegirinya were on Tuesday, April 4 welcomed back to Parliament after spending close to two years in prison.
The National Unity Platform (NUP) MPs who face murder charges were released last month on bail. KFM understands that the duo had only spent 110 days in the House before they were sent to prison over the mentioned charges.
The MPs, who had vowed to hold a procession through the city to parliament, were on Tuesday spotted arriving calmly, hours after police’s warning against the planned march.
Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa who presided over the Tuesday sitting officially welcomed the legislators back to parliament before proceeding with the day’s business.
“We are happy to be welcoming back our two colleagues, the Hon. Allan Ssewanyana and Hon. Ssegirinya Muhammad. We are always happy when we see our colleagues here being able to join us in the deliberations of this house,” Tayebwa tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.
The MPs say there is a lot to catch up with as many projects that they had started in their respective constituencies need to be revamped.
“The voices of our people have been missing in Parliament because I was not there to speak for them, but now that I am back, I will be able to speak for the people of Kawempe North. I will also embark on the programmes which I started before being arrested and I know we have lost incredible time, but we shall proceed with what we were doing for our people,” Mr Ssegirinya said on Monday ahead of his return to parliament.
The MPs were arrested in September 2021 after they were accused of being behind the wave of machete killings of about 30 people in the Greater Masaka region.
