The former Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Margret Zziwa has warned the new Speaker of the Assembly, Martin Ngoga on members that might turn against him during his tenure.
Zziwa’s term of office ended unceremoniously after being impeached by members of the Assembly.
Zziwa told Ngoga that he should take off time and study her experience and how she responded to it.
The former Speaker advised Ngoga to endeavor to respect the dissenting views of members but respond to them according to the rules that govern the Assembly.
“We need to read our rules, grasp them and work within our means, ensure conformity with all the laws and the legal regimes. There are many do’s and don’ts but you must be conversant with them and live within them,” Zziwa said.
She warned the Speaker to be mindful of relationships that go on between staff members and the legislators because these could derail and jeorpadize the smooth running of the assembly.
Zziwa called upon members to study and understand the controversies that were in the third term of EALA which events resulted to her impeachment.
“Despite members pushing hard for my resignation, I didn’t step down because I knew I was doing what was correct. Of coarse when we went to Court, we had a long process which took so long; I finished the assembly without almost being given the vindication.”
She regretted that much of what happened would not have happened had people not gone out to gang and caucus negatively, stage managing a walk out, a lone attendance forgetting the duty of objectivity and responsiveness of each member.
“This is an experience, look at and the precedence because someone may drop on the very experience to jump on you, the assurance I can give you is that the process which was used to remove me, can now not be effected on you because the Court ruled it null and void,” she said.