State Minister for Land, Persis Namuganza, has questioned the manner in which parliamentary committees treat investors and other subjects who appear before them for queries and vetting.

Namuganza said the manner in which investors are treated was a disgrace to the country and discourages other intending investors from picking interest in the country.

In a presser called on Friday at her offices, Namuganza said some MPs, especially the first-timers, did not have enough orientation to take them through the process of handling business.

“Committees have become like torture chambers! They should respect the people who appear before them. The purpose of committees is to set records straight but not to act like places where someone should regret ever appearing before them,” she said.

“Some people are arrested and pushed under the tables as if they are thieves. These are potential investors who have international partners,” Namuganza added.

She said it was time for President Yoweri Museveni to reign in on some committees, especially those headed by National Resistance Movement (NRM) parliamentarians.

“When we meet the President, sometimes he gives verbal instructions. But when you reach the committee and deliver the instructions, you are accused of concocting them without further inquiry. This is very unfortunate,” she said.

Her comments come in the wake of the lands committee report which accused her of peddling presidential directives that are non-existent.

The committee report which recommended that Namuganza should be held answerable for requesting that two investors be given pieces of land as instructed by the President, also said the minister should step aside to pave the way for investigations into her actions.

A letter dated January 24, 2020, written by Namuganza to the Uganda Land Commission, requested the former to allocate 10 acres to Princeton Children’s Medical Centre in partnership with other developers to build a hospital.

“Other requests which were extended to His Excellency the President are as indicated; Request of 5 acres by Anil Damani to construct affordable condominiums…request of three acres by Seven Hills Apartments Limited for a shopping and other units,” Namuganza’s letter to the commission read.

On Friday she told the media that the law allows anyone, whether citizen or foreigner, to request government land as long as they can pay the required taxes.

“I did not arm-twist the commission. If they saw that the request was suspicious they would have done ground checks and turned it down. But for the committee to torture me and call for my resignation because of delivering the President’s request is out of order,” Namuganza said.

Although the committee recommended the minister be held responsible for “misleading the commission into the allocation of land to the individuals and entities following presidential directives which were non-existent”, the same committee went ahead to agree with Namuganza to give land to two of the investors.

“A further analysis of the application data shows that the following companies fully complied with the set criteria and qualify for the allocation: Anil Damani, Seven Hills,” the committee report adopted by Parliament last week read.

“How come they adopt this recommendation if the so-called presidential directives were fake? The committees should know that our President will continue to issue directives verbally and it is a matter of trust for them to accept them,” Namuganza said.

This is not the first time a minister is accusing a parliamentary committee is being accused of acting like a torture chamber. 

In 2010, the then information minister, Kabakumba Matsiko, also accused the Public Accounts Committee of torturing witnesses and other people who appear before it.