I'll engage higher gear as LoP, says Ssenyonyi as he takes over from Mpuuga

The newly elected Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Mr Joel Ssenyonyi (Nakawa West) has vowed not to cease fire during his tenure.

On top of the agenda, he said, is to continue to address the issue of missing opposition supporters, a difficult task started previously by his predecessor Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo-Mukungwe).

Mr Ssenyonyi made the remarks today (Wednesday) before journalists at Parliament after being ushered into office by Mpuuga.

We will not stop working on the important issues that we have been focusing on. Rather, we are looking to engage in a higher gear," Mr Ssenyonyi said.

"By the time we broke off [for Christmas last year], we were pursuing missing persons. At that time, the Speaker, Right Honorable Mathias Mpuuga, and Madam Mariam Wangadya, the chairperson of the human rights commission, met. Unfortunately, she attended the meeting and was told to appear with the entire commission at a later date," he said.

“Parliament [later] resolved that there should be a thorough inquiry on the [issue] of missing persons and we are going to raise that reminder to Parliament because it was a resolution that was passed and that inquiry should happen soon,” he added.

Questions relating to missing opposition supporters began surfacing before and continued during and after the 2021 elections, resulting in continuous blame games between the government and the Opposition.

Though the government later came out and explained the puzzle of missing persons last year on November 29, the unsatisfied Opposition continues to demand more answers.

This dissatisfaction was further fueled by the remarks Ms Wangadya made before the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee of Parliament on January 8 casting doubts over missing opposition supporters stating that they simply do not exist.

“I am hoping one of these days I will be in a meeting where Madam Wangadya is. I want to understand this person properly. You know sometimes we judge people before fully understanding them. Today she says this, tomorrow she says that...things that are not coordinated. So, I don’t know what the problem with her is,” Mr Ssenyonyi said.

He then added: “Not long ago, she said that she even fears sitting in her commission meetings because while there some of her commissioners are carrying guns, so she lives in fear. I don’t know whether this living in fear is what destabilises her as an individual. Hopefully, I will get to understand her.”

Mr Ssenyonyi also took the time to address the issue of Mityana Municipality legislator Mr Francis Zaake getting blocked from serving as deputy Opposition chief whip. This was Speaker Anita Among on Tuesday during a plenary sitting said there was no such position because it does not exist within the House Rules of Procedure.

There will be some things that aren't in the law books," Ssenyonyi noted, adding, "As a result, we created the office of deputy chief opposition whip for our convenience." The position has not just started. It was there even in the last Parliament. So, the position might not be known within the structures of Parliament, but that is okay. We created responsibility and in the same way, we might also create others so that work gets to move,” he said.

The official communication at Parliament of the change of guard for the position of LoP was made on Tuesday following a statement made last year in December by the National Unity Platform (NUP) leader Mr Robert Kyagulanyu alias Bobi Wine that Mr Ssenyonyi would take over from Mpuuga. 

Ms Among on Tuesday vowed to work together with Mr Ssenyonyi but also took time to remind him that Parliament is for intellectual debates, not flexing muscles.

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