Activists petition against Col. Oula swearing-in

Feb 08, 2014

Three activists take to court in a bid to have Col. Innocent Oula stopped from taking oaths as the UPDF MP.

By Hillary Nsambu

A group of constitutionalism activists have taken to court in a bid to have Col. Innocent Oula stopped from taking oaths as army representative in Parliament.

Moses Bigirwa, Church Ambrose Bukenya and John Baptist Ntumwa have petitioned the Constitutional Court seeking to block the army man from swearing in as UPDF MP, citing breach of the constitution.

Col. Oula was recently elected to replace Maj. Gen. David Sejusa in Parliament, who is reported to be in the United Kingdom (UK).

The three petitioners insist that the election of Oula to replace Sejusa breached the law.

In their constitutional application, they seek to restrain the colonel from taking the oaths of allegiance.

The trio also seek injunctive court orders restraining the Clerk to Parliament, the Speaker of Parliament or any other person acting or their behalf from administering the oaths to Oula, until the final disposal of their constitutional petition challenging the whole exercise.

On top of that, the three men are after a temporary injunction to restrain the parliamentary committee on rules and privileges from further inquiries into MP Tony Kipoi’s absence from Parliament with a view to unconstitutionally declaring his seat vacant, until the final disposal of their petition over the issue.

This very committee found Sejusa guilty of being absent from 15 Parliamentary sittings without permission and his seat was declared vacant, leading to the election of Col. Oula to replace him.

Relatedly, Kipoi allegedly failed to appear and defend his absence from the House when the Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, had summoned him to appear before the committee on rules, privileges and discipline, hence the probe.

But Kipoi’s lawyer was quoted reporting to the committee that the Bubulo West MP was bed-ridden in a DR Congo hospital he did not name.

The Attorney General, the Electoral Commission and Col Oula, who are the respondents in the petition, have not yet responded.

The Constitutional Court is yet to fix a date for the hearing.        

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