President Museveni greets Mr Amama Mbabazi while Vice President Edward Ssekandi and Speaker Rebecca Kadaga look on. File photo
http://watchmanafrica.blogspot.com/2013/02/is-speak-rebecca-kadaga-sinking-into.html
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Uganda Women Politicians and their Empowerment without power: When Speaker Rebecca Kadaga Committed Political Suicide by a timid refusal to jump over Museveni’s ‘Dead body’ : MPs protest as Kadaga blocks recall
Is Speak Rebecca Kadaga sinking into oblivion: Kadaga stops probe into OPM cash scam: I pity Pentecostal pastors who think Kadaga will pass the Anti-Homosexuality bill.
Expelled NRM MPs cannot lose their seats – Kadaga
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Expelled-NRM-MPs-retain-their-seats/-/688334/1799668/-/120bfo8z/-/index.html
By Yasiin Mugerwa
Posted Thursday, May 2 2013 at 15:23
The Speaker of parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has this Thursday afternoon ruled that the four expelled NRM rebel MPs cannot lose their seats.In delivering her verdict responding to a letter in which the NRM Secretary General, Mr Amama Mbabazi was demanding her to declare the MPs’ seats vacant, Ms Kadaga said that the 1995 Constitution does not provide for the expulsion of MPs.
She asked the NRM party to consider that the framers of the Constitution dropped the Constitutional amendment during the seventh Parliament.
Therefore, I am not persuaded and I will not direct the clerk to Parliament declare the MPs seats vacant,” ruled Ms Kadaga adding that Article 83 of the Constitution which the NRM party had wanted to invoke to cause by-elections could not be used to eject the rebel MPs from Parliament.
Making a statement in Parliament this afternoon on the fate of the expelled MPs, Ms Kadaga said the MPs cannot lose their seats after expulsion by the political party and that she has a Constitutional mandate ensure that the rule of law thrives. Ms Kadaga has also quoted the Henry Tumukunde case details.
Museveni, Mbabazi sign anti-Kadaga petition
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Museveni--Mbabazi-sign-anti-Kadaga-petition/-/688334/1859726/-/e23n4l/-/index.html
By EPHRAIM KASOZI & JULIET KIGONGO
Posted Wednesday, May 22 2013 at 17:20
The Ruling National Resistance Movement has petitioned the Constitutional Court challenging the legality of the ruling by Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga that the four MPs who were expelled from the party retain their seats.
On May 2, Speaker Kadaga ruled that the four MPs; Theodre Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa West), Mohammed Nsereko (Kampala Central) and Barnabas Tinkasimire (Buyaga) should retain their seats in Parliament.
However, the petition filed before the Constitutional Court, signed by NRM chairperson Yoweri Museveni and secretary general Amama Mbabazi alleges that Ms Kadaga’s ruling culminated in the creation of a peculiar category of MPs unknown to the Constitution.
Through their lawyers, NRM alleges that the expelled MPs who ceased being members of the party are now "politically wild people who are aliens with no known identity in the Parliament which contravenes the Constitution".
Below are the profiles of the lawyers in the case.
John Mary Mugisha: He is the lead counsel in the petition and senior legal practitioner and a Commissioner of the Uganda Law Reform Commission. He formerly worked as Senior Principal Lecturer at Law Development Centre (LDC). He is former president of Uganda Law Society and Vice President of East African Law Society. He was the lead counsel in the case of Severino Twinobusingye Vs Attorney General in which Court awarded Shs13 billion.
Chris John Bakiza: He is the managing advocate of M/s Bakiza and Co. Advocates, former director of the Criminal Investigations Department of the Uganda Police Force. Mr Bakiza is a constitutional law specialist and activist of the Constitution and External Examiner of the LDC.
Michael Akampurira: He is a Managing Partner of Akampurira and Partners charged with commissioning of all documents in the petition and other related matters. He is former lecturer at LDC.
Sam Mayanja: He is a legal adviser to UN Economic Commission for Africa and Legal Secretary to Uganda Development Bank as well as a teacher of law at Nkumba University and Uganda Christian University. Mr Mayanja is a World Bank Consultant and African Union Consultant who has participated in presidential election petitions between Dr Kizza Besigye and President Museveni. He was one of the prosecutors in the treason case against Dr Besigye. He was hired as a consultant in the case.
Severino Twinobusingye: He is the managing partner of Severino Twinobusingye & Company Advocates, a Philosopher and psychologist specialized in Constitutional Law and jurisprudence as well as election petitions.
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AG Nyombi Attacks Kadaga Over Getting Impartial Lawyers over Expelled MPs
http://croozefm.com/2013/05/22/ag-nyombi-attacks-kadaga-over-getting-impartial-lawyers-over-expelled-mps/
The battle of saving or expelling NRM rebel MPs from parliament roams on.On Wednesday the Attorney General Peter Nyombi criticized the move by the speaker of parliament to get impartial lawyers to deal with the case of the expelled MPs since -he ,the AG is leaning on the NRM side.
Citing article 119 of the constitution ,Mr Nyombi told reporters today that getting an independent legal team would necessitate amending the constitution.
“Article 119 of the Constituton of the Republic of Uganda provides that there shall be an Attorney General appointed by the President with the approval of Parliament and shall be the principal legal advisor of government and therefore civil proceedings by or against government shall be instituted by or against the Attorney General,” stressed Nyombi.
On Monday speaker Kadaga announced that parliament will get an independent legal team to defend it over her decision to retain expelled NRM MPs in parliament ,something being challenged by the NRM party.
Nyombi Warns Kadaga Over NRM Rebel MPs
http://chimpreports.com/index.php/news/politics/10199-speaker%E2%80%99s-statements-were-unconstitutional-says-attorney-general.html
Uganda’s Attorney General has criticized the Speaker’s statements made in reference to the case against the NRM rebel MPs calling them unconstitutional.
By 18 hours 35 minutes ago
As he addressed journalists on Wednesday in the capital, Kampala, the Attorney General, Hon. Peter Nyombi noted that it was provided for in the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda that he acts on behalf of government to which the parliament is part.
“Article 119 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides that there shall be an Attorney General appointed by the President with the approval of Parliament and shall be the principal legal advisor of government and therefore civil proceedings by or against government shall be instituted by or against the Attorney General,” stressed Nyombi.
He further condemned the means used by the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga to express her views about the NRM rebel MPs.
“The way she expressed her opinions was insane. If she was aggrieved by my opinion she would have gone to court and challenged me,” noted Nyombi.
Nyombi further noted that the Speaker does not want to talk to him nor listen to his advice. He added that the speaker can only lobby parliament for the amendment of the constitution before she gets lawyers to represent parliament.
This came barely days after the Speaker ruled out the possibility of the Attorney General representing parliament in the cases of the embattled NRM rebel MPs and declared that parliament has qualified lawyers to represent it other than the Attorney General.
Rebel MPs: Katuntu takes Nyombi to court
Thursday, 23 May 2013 22:15
Bugweri MP Abdu Katuntu was last evening set to petition the constitutional court, challenging Attorney General Peter Nyombi’s opinion, that MPs expelled by their parties should also lose their seats in Parliament.
Katuntu’s constitutional petition will be argued by a team of lawyers led by Peter Mukidi Walubiri.
“We have finalized everything and hopefully before the close of today; the petition will accordingly be filed in the constitutional court,” Walubiri told The Observer today.
On May 8, Nyombi wrote to Kadaga, advising her to reverse her decision and expel from Parliament, four MPs expelled by the ruling party, NRM. The four are Theodore Ssekikubo (Lwemiyaga), Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga West), Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa East) and Muhammad Nsereko (Kampala Central).
Nyombi argued that Kadaga’s ruling ignored some provisions of the Constitution, particularly those that brought about a multiparty dispensation. However, Katuntu contends that Nyombi’s opinion is bad in law and has no legal foundation.
NRM files petition
On Monday, the ruling party, through its lawyers including John Mary Mugisha, Chris Bakiza, Joseph Mayanja and Severino Twinobusingye, filed a constitutional petition against Kadaga’s ruling in relation to the four expelled MPs.
The petition, which has two supporting affidavits sworn by the party chairperson, President Museveni, and Prime Minster Amama Mbabazi, accuses Kadaga of creating a peculiar category of MPs unknown to the Constitution by refusing to kick out the expelled MPs.
The ruling party petition says that, “as a party, we are deprived of our parliamentary seats and those four constituencies are not currently represented yet the electorate preferred the petitioners hitherto flag bearers to represent them”.
The party further adds that there is no way MPs nominated, sponsored and elected as candidates on the basis of the petitioners’ manifesto and ideology can continue to represent their constituencies.
The NRM petition follows an earlier one by Kibuku MP Saleh Kamba and Marym Agasha, an NRM supporter, also challenging Kadaga’s ruling. The two petitioners are represented by the same legal team that filed the petition on behalf of the NRM party. Consequently, we have been told that the NRM petition is likely to be consolidated with Kamba’s.