The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga has protested what she called the “interference” of the judiciary in the workings of Parliament asking the judicial arm of government to stop intimidating the legislature.
Kadaga said this on Monday while attending the ceremony to open the New Law Year at the precincts of the High Court in Kampala.
The Speaker decried “the recent attempts to again encroach on powers of Parliament” and reminded the Judiciary of “the need to give each other space so that we can work”.
“I am aware that each arm of the state has its influence and we have an obligation to aide one another in the conduct of our mandates. Therefore I need to reiterate the doctrine of separation of powers,” Kadaga told members of the judicial sector including the Chief Justice, Justices of the courts of law and lawyers who attended the event.
She said that whereas Parliament has no problem with the Judiciary examining the laws legislated, the House would not tolerate being directed by the Judiciary on how to conduct Parliamentary business.
“I can not imagine a situation where a Committee of Parliament with the powers of the High Court can direct a single Judge to stop his work and come to attend the committee. I don’t think that is possible,” Kadaga said.
The Speaker was making reference to an incident in December last year where court issued summons to the Speaker of Parliament. This was after Kadaga had suspended a group of opposition MPs for seven consecutive sittings after they became unruly during the contentious debate on the proposal to lift Presidential age limits.
Parliament security had blocked the lawyers of the aggrieved MPs from serving the Speaker with the summons as she was presiding over plenary.
Quoting Section 4 of the Parliament Act, Speaker Kadaga said on Monday that; “No process issued by any court in Uganda in the exercise of civil jurisdiction shall be served or effected within the precincts of Parliament while Parliament is sitting or through the Speaker, the Clerks or any other officer”.
She further added that the same Act (Section 25) stipulates that neither the Speaker nor any officer of Parliament shall be subject to the jurisdiction of any court in respect of the exercise of any power conferred on or vested in the Speaker or that officer by or under this Act.
“The House should not be intimidated not to do its work. So, I want to ask that we give each other space,” Kadaga asked.
While responding to issues raised by the Speaker, the Chief Justice, Bart Katureebe gave assurance that; “The Judiciary has no intentions to interfere in the workings of Parliament”.
However, Katureebe was quick to add that “if a citizen comes to the Constitutional Court, the Judiciary has to judiciously take the appropriate measures”.
“Even if one disagrees with orders of the court, one can move to the next level to have them enforced,” the Chief Justice stated.