PARLIAMENT- The Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah has declined to read to Parliament the letter President Museveni wrote in response to the demands raised by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga.
On August 27, Kadaga wrote to the President expressing concern that a number of MPs had been tortured by security officers and yet no action had been taken against the said officers.
The Speaker demanded that the perpetrators of the torture be arrested and be presented before court.
Last week Parliament adjourned after legislators refused to continue with business when they learnt that there was no response to the Speaker’s letter to the President.
Oulanyah assured the MPs that the President had responded but the contents of the letter are only known to the Speaker.
The Leader of Opposition (LOP), Betty Aol Ochan demanded that the Deputy Speaker provide members with the contents of the letter before the House could continue.
“We commend the President for responding to the [Speaker’s] letter, and we are now happy that it [the President’s letter] is here, but isn’t it procedurally right that we debate the content as it will help us respond and demand for the officers who tortured the MPs?” Aol asked.
In response, Oulanyah chose to push the baton to his boss, “The President has responded to the Speaker, the issues were raised by the Speaker, she is the one competent to assess the response to her satisfaction but the letter has been responded to.”
The Deputy Speaker said MPs asking him to were asking for too much, “Me to become a letter reader, I don’t remember any rule that mandates the Speaker to be reading letters in Parliament,” he stressed.
