The Mityana Municipality Member of Parliament, Francis Zaake has told the Parliamentary committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline that allegations raised against him are malicious, unfounded and in bad faith.
The legislator who doubles as a Parliamentary commissioner, had appeared before the committee over alleged demeaning the person of Deputy Speaker, Anita Among, and the institution of Parliament.
Zaake accompanied by his lawyers Eron Kiiza and Benjamin Katana told the committee led by Bugweri County MP, Abdu Katuntu that the particular proceedings are unfair to him because they are borne out of an incurable conflict of interest.
“…Only for record purposes, may it also be known that I consider the allegations against me to be malicious, unfounded and in bad faith. Similarly, these particular proceedings are unfair to me because they are borne out of an incurable conflict of interest,” he noted.
The legislator also challenged the committees jurisdiction to investigate matters alleged to have happened outside Parliament.
“With respect, let it be known from the onset that I challenge this Committee’s jurisdiction to investigate matters alleged to have happened outside the precincts of Parliament. As such, I am here only out of the respect I have for you my colleagues and this institution, but not necessarily to defend myself,” he said.
Zaake noted that he was shocked and deeply hurt to learn that on February, 8 2022, the Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker made a very cruel joke about him as a torture victim.
“That day as she presided over a debate about the rampant torture of citizens by security forces, Rt. Hon. Anita Among stated that, ‘Much as [Hon. Zaake] was tortured – as you have said – he was able to win a gold medal in athletics with a broken leg’.” He said.
Adding, “Mr. Chairperson, those comments are on the Hansard. The Deputy Speaker made them in reference to the recent East African Parliamentary games during which I won a gold medal, Even when listened to objectively, those comments suggested that either the Deputy Speaker thinks that, I have been lying about being tortured; or that I exaggerated the extent of injuries I suffered on each of the five (5) times I have been mercilessly tortured in the last 4 years; or, that torture is a blessing in disguise for its victims and is as such a trivial matter in this Country.”
He noted, “So, I hope you understand when I say that I believe these proceedings are not intended to establish the truth. Their purpose is to knot the rope with which the mob, after lynching me, will hang me to fit the narrative that I committed suicide.”
Zaake says that he was already found guilty of the allegations even before the matter first came up on the floor of Parliament.
“After all, I was already found guilty of these allegations even before the matter first came up on the floor of Parliament: On 11th February, my security detail, to which I am entitled as a Commissioner of Parliament, was unceremoniously withdrawn without any explanation. That was my first punishment,” he said.
The legislator argued that, “for any one who has been a victim of torture as me, he or she would understand how hurt and furious I felt watching the Speaker making a mockery of the life-threatening torture I have repeatedly suffered without justice.”
Zaake told the committee that he has continued to get cruel remarks from Government officials and security spokespersons asserting that he faked the torture, saying “the last person I expected such cruelty from was the Speaker of Parliament because she is a wife, a mother, and the head of an institution that should be doing everything possible to rehabilitate me instead of victimizing me further.”
He noted that the Deputy Speaker, should be the one appearing before the committee but not him.
“If you were me, you would understand how hard it is for me not to think that she should be the one appearing before this Committee, but not me. Nevertheless, I forgive her. I forgive her not just for making fun of my plight, but also for the mob justice she is about to preside over against me,” he said.
However, replying to Zaake, the Rules committee chairperson Abdu Katuntu said that whereas they sympathize with Zaake about the torture he has faced, the committee is investigating something else, the social media statements of Hon Zaake disparaging the Deputy Speaker.
Katuntu gave Zaake’s lawyers one day to prepare and make their response in regards to the legislators statement on the Deputy Speaker.
The motion to evict Zaake as a parliament commissioner was moved by Gulu West Member of Parliament Ojara Martin Mapenduzi (Independent), who also doubles as the head of the Local Government’s Accounts Committee chairman in parliament.
The motion seconded by Amolatar Woman Member of Parliament Atim Agnes Apea from the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), calls for the removal of Zaake from office as a parliamentary commisioner according to rule 110 of the rules of procedure of parliament.
