Mpuuga accuses parliament of shielding ‘incompetent’ Nabbanja 

The leader of opposition in parliament (LoP) Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba has slammed the speaker for covering up prime minister Robinah Nabbanja’s ‘incompetence’.

During the opposition’s mid-term review meeting that focused on appraising the level of service delivery and accountability in the country,  Mpuuga accused Nabbanja of rarely attending plenary sessions, noting that if she surfaces in the House, she is less knowledgeable and hardly spends enough time to attend to pertinent issues that require a timely response from the government. He cited the forced disappearance of an opposition supporter, John Bosco Kibalama whose whereabouts still remain a mystery.

“I can understand why many a time the prime minister of the republic looks to be on sevens and nines on the issues in parliament and I can’t blame her. I don’t know how to rate her since she has run away from parliament. She comes, she moves in briefly, and runs away. I don’t know her abilities yet. Ever since we demanded Kibalama from her, she ran away with Kibalama’s blood on her hands. She has not appeared again,” said Mpuuga.

“The prime minister can run away without answering questions. Sometime in August, I tabled a litany of 50 unanswered questions. Failure to answer 50 questions from parliament, I don’t think is credit to any prime minister. I have seen on a number of occasions the presiding officers struggling to cover up for the prime minister, struggling to answer questions that are supposed to be answered by the prime minister. I have seen even the speakers trying to answer for the prime minister. That is not acceptable. The prime minister should have that capacity. If she doesn’t have it, she must be capacited,” added Mpuuga.

Mpuuga also observed that the framers of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda tried to mirror the British parliamentary system to give the prime minister a final say in every affair of government, which explains why Nabbanja’s role as PM is at crossroads.

“There was an attempt to mimic the British parliament which is basically not presidential and therefore the prime minister has the last word on every matter. And probably because ours is quasi half presidential, half parliamentary, these roles tend to be mixed up. I can understand why many a time, the prime minister of the republic looks to be on sevens and nines on issues in parliament. But in our case, because it’s a mixed arrangement quasi presidential quasi parliamentary, the prime minister can run away without answering questions,” he said.

Since being appointed by President Yoweri Museveni on June 8, 2021, to become Uganda’s seventh prime minister, Nabbanja has been under intense scrutiny from the opposition, who accuse her of gross incompetence. Attempts to get a response from Nabbanja on the matter were futile. 

But Charles Odongtho, the publicist for the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) questioned the rationale and parameters used by the LOP to determine the premier’s alleged incompetence especially when he (Mpuuga) is not Nabbanja’s supervisor. 

“That is a mere accusation because as far as I know, the prime minister has been performing her duties, and in her absence, she delegates the deputy leader of government business in parliament or the government chief whip to appropriately respond to emerging issues at hand,” Odongtho said on phone.   

Adding that, “I would rather hear from the presiding officers themselves who handle issues in the House about the PM’s incompetence and not the LOP.”

Under Article 108 A of the constitution, the prime minister is the leader of government business in parliament. In addition, the premier is responsible for the coordination and implementation of government policies across ministries, departments, agencies (MDAs) and other public institutions.

During a monitoring and evaluation tour to demand accountability in government schools and health facilities in June, Mpuuga and Nabbanja clashed with the former ordering resident district commissioners (RDCs) across the country to arrest the LOP should he attempt to visit the facilities.

Nabbanja’s orders followed the LOP’s visit to Luwero and Buikwe where he was taken to tour primary schools where children were studying on a dusty floor and under trees respectively. In Kawolo hospital, the LOP discovered that out of 147 enrolled staff, only 35 were on duty while others were on strike over salary delays.

The findings which were published by different media outlets including national TV stations prompted Nabbanja to rush to Kawolo hospital to reprimand the striking health workers. On several occasions, the duo clashed on the floor of parliament over the whereabouts of 18 missing supporters of the National Unity Platform (NUP) party supporters. 

At one point, Nabbanja admitted Kibalama was in government custody before contradictorily denying the same.