KAMPALA – The Parliamentary Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline on July 30, commenced investigations into allegations that Security Minister, Elly Tumwine attempted to pull out a gun at Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Ogwal.
Queries have been raised on the quality of the footage provided which has overshadowed the maiden investigations.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga referred Gen Tumwine to the Rules Committee after allegations were levelled against him last week that he threatened to harm Hon Ogwal.
However, the footage provided by the Parliament security team raised more questions than answers after cross-examination of the footage only showed Gen Tumwine and not Hon Ogwal.
To make matters worse, the footage was blurred by black spots.
The video recording also lacked audio to synchronize the replayed events which depicted Gen Tumwine charging at a woman seated in the Pigeon Hall but the identity of the woman remained a mystery in the footage which prompted Buguri Municipality MP, Hon Asuman Basalirwa to raise concerns that the investigations may hit a snug.
Hon Basalirwa questioned the integrity of the security team saying the footage provided points to the fact that the security team cannot be trusted.
“I went to do consultations on the difficulty we had in seeing what happened between Gen Tumwine and the Ogwal. Ogwal is not in the pictures we saw and that creates a challenge on who Gen Tumwine was interacting with.” Hon Basalirwa remarked.
The Rules Committee Chairperson, Ogola Obote assured the committee that the matter would be investigated further to establish if there are any concealed facts.
Meanwhile, Moses Kasibante appeared as the first witness in which he used the moment to accuse Gen Tumwine of disrespecting the Speaker after she directed the General to vacate and pay UGX 1.62 Billion owed to National Arts and Cultural Crafts Association of Uganda (NACCAU) popularly known as Nommo Gallery.
Hon Kasibante said that Gen Tumwine appeared on CBS Radio where he was quoted to have said ‘she (Kadaga) doesn’t understand it (Nomo gallery issue) and it is the same to all of them (MPs) because they sit in their chairs and say what they don’t understand.’
“This is belittling Parliament and the powers of the Speaker from a UPDF General. I see this is disrespect by a General and declares he has bush war experience. This shows that he is planning many things apart from this.” He said.
Investigations into this touchy subject continue today (July 31) with Hon Ogwal expected to appear and testify on her altercation with Gen Tumwine.
The General is also expected to defend himself against all allegations before a final decision is taken by Parliament.
The report will be presented for debate before the August House today on July 31.
