Lawmakers on the parliamentary Committee on Defence and Internal Affairs yesterday chased away officials from the Ministry of Defence and Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) from the meeting for allegedly ambushing them with a pile of documents.

The committee meeting to scrutinise the Budget Framework Paper [BFP] for Financial Year 2022/2023 of the Ministry of Defence ended prematurely after a majority of legislators resolved to send away Defence Minister Vincent Ssempijja, his deputy Jacob Oboth Oboth and the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Gen Wilson Mbasu Mbadi.

The legislators said they needed to scrutinise the budget draft, understand the expenditures of the closing Financial Year, and then have a thorough debate when processing the proposals for the said entity.

Before the decision was taken, there had been a heated exchange between legislators and Defence ministry officials.

Police station raid

 Lwemiyaga County legislator Theodore Ssekikubo took the lead in demanding answers on actions taken to ensure discipline in the army. He referred to the recent incident where eight heavily armed soldiers raided Lumuli Police Station in Ndejje Parish, Wakiso District, and rescued their colleagues who had been arrested while staging an illegal roadblock in the same area.

“There were reports that UPDF who are before us were involved in staging roadblocks, and when police intercepted them and took them to the police station, a bigger contingent of the UPDF stormed the police station and took away their colleagues. This committee cannot condone such conduct,” Mr Ssekikubo said.

Kioga North MP Moses Okot P’Bitek said the army’s Fisheries Protection Unit-(FPU) personnel continue brutalizing fishing communities in the guise of combating illegal fishing on various water bodies.

” I am an opposition member on this committee and I promised the people that this would end… I cannot come here and rubber-stamp this budget.”

In response, Minister Ssempijja asked the MPs to allow them time to simply present what they had prepared and internalise the documents later on. “I want to appeal to the members that we got the letter on Friday. You have all the time after today to digest this. For us we are presenting and convincing you [about the budget draft],”  he said.

His response, however, angered some lawmakers including Mr Ssekikubo who said they need answers.

Limited time

The Chairperson of the Committee, Ms Rosemary Nyakikongoro, told lawmakers the officials would make formal responses on a later date and said the meeting would proceed due to time constraints.

 “What time do we even have if we say that we send them away and then they come back [another day]. When shall we process the report?” Ms Nyakikongoro said.

But some MPs rejected the move. Butiru County legislator, Mr Godfrey Wakooli said: “It is better we do the right thing. Let us not talk about time. We must assert ourselves as a committee because we happen to be their bosses,” Mr Wakooli said.

Mubende Municipality MP Mr Lubega Sempa Bashir agreed.  “We are not a rubber stamp. ”

Through a vote, the committee resolved to end the meeting and the Ministry of Defence officials and UPDF top brass were sent away.