Recommendations by House committees must be enforced

The Rules, Privileges and Discipline Committee of Parliament this week started investigating Security minister, Gen Elly Tumwine, who also happens to be a Member of Parliament representing the army, on allegations that he mentioned words that belittled Parliament and the person of the Speaker.
The investigations followed reports that Gen Tumwine allegedly insulted Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga with phrases such as, “Who is Speaker? Who is she? What is Parliament? The Speaker rules over Parliament, not Uganda. This country was liberated by our army not Parliament.”
Gen Tumwine’s woes follow complaints by Bukonjo West MP Godfrey Atkins Katusabe that the army MP had made derogatory remarks about the institution when the former confronted him to intervene and stop the alleged shoot-to-kill directive in the Kasese District.
The revelation, on top of the one from Dokolo Woman MP Cecilia Ogwal, provoked legislators to pass of a resolution to have Tumwine investigated. The committee has been ordered to make a report before the House within two weeks.
As the two legislators noted, this is not the first time Parliament is ordering a probe into Gen Tumwine.
Early last year, the same General faced the wrath of legislators after he questioned Speaker Kadaga’s authority over an order to vacate Nommo Gallery owned by the ministry of Gender in Kampala’s upscale Nakasero area. Indeed, no one ever knows what happened to this probe.
Though, Gen Tumwine told journalists while in Mbarara Town recently that Parliament has become his treasured home of more than 30 years, he is expected to show exemplary behaviour while addressing challenges he faces with the institution.
It is interesting to note that the General stressed that he would be the last person to bring the House into disrepute and would be ready to die for it.
Whereas Gen Tumwine this week appeared before the committee, he has previously snubbed it, as have some Cabinet ministers. This exposes Parliament as a barking dog that seldom bites.
It also remains to seen what the ruling from the disciplinary committee will be and if Parliament has powers to check the excesses of some powerful people in government.
In the previous Parliament, a former woman legislator was pinned and condemned for forging a report on Kampala Capital City Authority in favour of then executive director.
Despite the committee presenting its report to Parliament, nothing was done against the legislator until she was evicted from the House by her voters in the last general election.
Some members of the committee argued then that it was difficult to recommend the suspension of their colleague despite obtaining sufficient evidence against her.
How does the taxpayer benefit from the probes of the rules and disciplinary committee if the reports are not implemented? And how does this paint the image of Parliament? Is it not better to just let some issues simply pass by like they were never there?