Parliament Debate Disrupted by Claims on Military Invasion

Parliament was adjourned earlier on Tuesday morning after the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga received concerns that the House had again been invaded by unknown security personnel.

The second day of the debate on the report on the controversial Age Limit Bill was again marred by chaotic scenes until Kadaga adjourned plenary to 2pm. She said she needed to verify claims that soldiers had taken over the chaplaincy within Parliament and had restricted access.

Amuru county MP Lucy Akello who heads the Catholic chaplaincy told the House that cleaners in the places of worship had informed her that soldiers had camped into the chaplaincy who restricted access.

Akello told Parliament that; “My heart is bleeding that our places of worship have been invaded by soldiers. When I tried to access the place to verify, I found there soldiers who questioned me what I was doing there and how I accessed the place”.

She went ahead to question why such sanctuaries of worship in Parliament were harboring soldiers.

But the allegation by Akello was challenged by Bukooli South MP, Solomon Sselwanyi who told the House that the soldiers were in the chapel to pray like everybody else.

This prompted Member of Parliament for Aruu county, Odonga Otto to pounce on Sselwanyi and grab the microphone from him. Otto accused Sselwanyi of telling lies.

It is these concerns and the chaos that prompted Speaker Kadaga to call for an adjournment so as to establish the truth in the claims.

This comes two months after security operatives believed to have been Special Forces Command (SFC) invaded Parliament during the first reading of the Age Limit Bill and assaulted a number of MPs in the opposition.

But government spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo dismissed the claims on invasion of Parliament by soldiers on Tuesday as false.

“The claim of ‘soldiers’ in the Catholic area of prayers in Parliament is most likely false but meant to be a diversionary tactic by people facing a certain defeat,” Opondo tweeted on Tuesday afternoon.

It should be recalled that MPs spent the entire Monday in disagreement on procedure until Speaker Kadaga decided to adjourn the debate to Tuesday following technical problems with the sound system.

MPs in the ruling NRM party accused those in the opposition of stalling the process to frustrate voting on the Bill. The latter however claim Kadaga flouted numerous rules of procedure and accused her of being partisan.