Mityana Municipality MP, Francis Zaake (C) reacts after he was beaten by Kilak North MP, Anthony Akol during a scuffle as the House debated the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on November 6, 2024. PHOTO/ DAVID LUBOWA
The identities of the men and women in civilian clothes who raided Parliament chamber and grabbed some MPs after lights were switched off remain contentious.
Six MPs were seized, pushed, and carried off from the floor of Parliament soon after Speaker Annet Among suspended 12 legislators following the fist fights and shoving on Wednesday.
Mr Chris Obore, the Parliament director of communication and public affairs, said the personnel that seized the legislators were police officers attached to Parliament.
“They are police officers attached to Parliament and are not military personnel,” Mr Obore said in an interview with Daily Monitor yesterday.
Parliament was thrown into chaos on Wednesday when a scuffle ensued between Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake and his Kilak North counterpart Anthony Akol over a seat in a jam-packed House that was debating rationalisation of government agencies.
The chaos forced the suspension of 12 MPs for three consecutive sittings and Speaker Among halting the session to allow the accused MPs to leave. But some of the MPs hesitated, which prompted the security personnel to jump into action to eject the six legislators.
The MPs bundled out included Shamim Malende (Kampala Woman); Charles Tebandeke (Bbaale County); Derrick Nyeko (Makindye East); Aisha Kabanda (Butambala Woman); Charles Matovu (Entebbe Municipality); and Denis Ssekabira (Katikamu North.
Although Ms Kabanda, Mr Ssekabira, and Mr Matovu were not part of the suspended MPs, they were seized and bundled out of the House. The trio said they were accused of capturing videos of the incident.
Were they police or military?
Mr Obore said the Sergeant-at-Arms called in the police officers to help maintain security after the chaotic session in the chamber.
“Parliament has a fully-fledged Police Division. I am not sure they (MPs) know all the police officers attached to Parliament. The Sergeant-at-Arms asked the police to reinforce them. Everything was handled by the police within Parliament,” he said.
Ten years ago, then Inspector General of Police, Gen Kale Kayihura, elevated the Parliamentary Police to the level of a directorate and deployed more than 500 police officers with huge funding.
The Force was accused of spying on the Opposition and bribing them to support the ruling National Resistance Movement party. However, Gen Kayihura’s successor, Mr Martins Okoth Ochola, downsized the Parliamentary Police to a Division.
The police often deploy 150 to 400 officers in a police division depending on the number of the population or the security needs.
Could this be the Force that Mr Obore was referring to and could have stormed the House when the Parliament chamber was suddenly plunged into darkness during the chaos.
The pandemonium kicked in with the Zaake-Akol scuffle, with Speaker Among suspending the House sitting for 30 minutes. Soon after resumption, Ms Among suspended the 12 MPs, but some resisted exiting and the chamber was thrown into partial darkness as the lights went off and the Force stormed the chamber.
But Kyadondo East MP Muwada Nkunyingi recorded a video that he posted on his X-platform that he said captured what was going on.
“The State is more likely to cause more chaos,” MP Nkunyingi said in the recording as he tilted his phone camera to show what was going on.
Voices of MPs in the background could be heard saying: “They want to kill us in the darkness.” He later moves closer to Leader of Opposition in Parliament Joel Ssenyonyi where Ms Malende was standing and crying out: “They will first kill us for our coffee to be taken.”
After the seizure of the MPs on Wednesday, MP Nyeko said the security personnel beat them as they dragged them out of the chamber.
“They punched and kicked me. One even grabbed my private parts and pressed them so hard. They took us to a drone (police van) where there was a police officer dressed in khaki,” MP Nyeko said.
He said the six of them were bundled into the van and driven around Kampala City Metropolitan Area for more than two hours.
“They drove us to Nansana [city suburb], then to Entebbe and other places,” he said.
Entebbe lies some 40 kilomertres south of Kampala City.
Subsequently, the personnel asked the MPs to tell them where they reside.
Stripped
MP Kabanda said she was stripped during the arrest, which she described as a script some dictators use against those with opposing views in order to give up their activism.
“The seemingly existing institutions are cosmetic; just only to depict him as though he is a democratic leader. He overrides institutions at will. We know that we are ruled under a dictatorship. Unfortunately, because of the poverty amid us, job-holders are so protective of their office, so not many can dare him,” MP Kabanda said.
MP Kabanda said: “For the strangers in the House; it was no wonder the will of the old man had to be implemented by hook or crook. I just sympathise with the presiding officer who is being used but will soon be dumped as the practice has always been.”
Shadow Attorney General, MP Wilfred Niwagaba said the Wednesday siege is the second time that Parliament is invaded by unidentified security personnel.
“This is not only a desecration of the August House but also a clear evidence that the regime is militaristic as it resorts to the military even in areas where only brains and debate are the only things required,” MP Niwagaba said.
Similar incident
During the 2017 age limit debate, MPs who were opposed to amending Article 102b that limited the age of a presidential candidate, fought with their counterparts who supported it, leading to the suspension of several Opposition MPs.
Plain clothed security personnel invaded Parliament to evict members that had been suspended by the then Speaker Rebecca Kadaga.
At least five lawmakers were injured during the scuffle.
Mr Niwagaba equated the Wednesday siege of the Parliament Chamber to the rape of the temple of justice during the infamous Black Mamba invasion of the High Court in Kampala in 2005.
Both Brig Gen Felix Kulayigye, the Defence ministry director of public information, and police spokesman Kituuma Rusoke, declined to comment on the arrest of the MPs on Wednesday.
They said it is a Parliament issue that should be addressed by the spokesman of Parliament.
SFC defence
The spokesman of the Special Forces Command, Maj Jimmy Omara, said their officers were not deployed to Parliament.
“We don’t have any deployment there. We didn’t have any operation in Parliament,” Maj Omara said yesterday.
Speaker Among suspended 12 MPs, including Francis Zaake (Mityana Municipality), Anthony Akol (Kilak North), Wakayima Musoke (Nansana Municipality), Aloysius Mukasa, (Rubaga South), and Charles Tebandeke (Bbaale County).
Others were Isaiah Ssasaga (Budadiri East), Asinansi Nyakato (Hoima City Woman), Derrick Nyeko (Makindye East), Frank Kabuye (Bukoto East), Susan Mugabi (Buvuma District Woman), Ronald Evans Kanyike (Kassanda South), Shamim Malende (Kampala Woman MP).
