Museveni warns MPs over land
Dec 20, 2006
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni yesterday warned MPs against making reckless statements over land matters. The President reportedly said MPs and other leaders should individually be held responsible for statements they make and if proved guilty, be reprimanded.
By Apollo Mubiru
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni yesterday warned MPs against making reckless statements over land matters.
The President reportedly said MPs and other leaders should individually be held responsible for statements they make and if proved guilty, be reprimanded.
“Individuals who make reckless statements that incite the public like those made by Acholi MPs, threatening to spear investors over land, should be held responsible,†Museveni was quoted as saying during the NRM Caucus meeting.
He called such statements dangerous and a threat to national security, unity and development.
The President warned that MPs should not misuse their parliamentary privileges to tell lies against the government and incite the public.
He also scoffed at a section of MPs who want his office at the Parliamentary Buildings shifted elsewhere to create office space for MPs.
“I am not leaving. I am the one who captured this place. How can I be evicted?†the source quoted Museveni as saying.
Museveni was responding to a ministerial statement presented by lands minister Daniel Omara Atubo, over the allegations made by the Acholi MPs. They alleged that the Government was plotting to grab their land.
The chairperson of the Acholi Parliamentary Group, Livingstone Okello-Okello, had accused the Government of signing a protocol with the Libyan government in 1992, giving away 4,000 hectares of Bukaleba Beef Ranch, 46,000 hectares of Aswa Ranch and 16,376 hectares of Maruzi Ranch.
Atubo, however, denied the existence of such a protocol.
Museveni asked the finance minister, Dr. Ezra Suruma, to explain what caused the disagreement on Tuesday when he walked out of the caucus meeting.
Suruma reportedly regretted the incident and apologised.
The caucus set up a five- member committee, chaired by Dr. Sam Lyomoki, to look into the general welfare of MPs, together with the Ministry of Finance.
PRESIDENT Yoweri Museveni yesterday warned MPs against making reckless statements over land matters.
The President reportedly said MPs and other leaders should individually be held responsible for statements they make and if proved guilty, be reprimanded.
“Individuals who make reckless statements that incite the public like those made by Acholi MPs, threatening to spear investors over land, should be held responsible,†Museveni was quoted as saying during the NRM Caucus meeting.
He called such statements dangerous and a threat to national security, unity and development.
The President warned that MPs should not misuse their parliamentary privileges to tell lies against the government and incite the public.
He also scoffed at a section of MPs who want his office at the Parliamentary Buildings shifted elsewhere to create office space for MPs.
“I am not leaving. I am the one who captured this place. How can I be evicted?†the source quoted Museveni as saying.
Museveni was responding to a ministerial statement presented by lands minister Daniel Omara Atubo, over the allegations made by the Acholi MPs. They alleged that the Government was plotting to grab their land.
The chairperson of the Acholi Parliamentary Group, Livingstone Okello-Okello, had accused the Government of signing a protocol with the Libyan government in 1992, giving away 4,000 hectares of Bukaleba Beef Ranch, 46,000 hectares of Aswa Ranch and 16,376 hectares of Maruzi Ranch.
Atubo, however, denied the existence of such a protocol.
Museveni asked the finance minister, Dr. Ezra Suruma, to explain what caused the disagreement on Tuesday when he walked out of the caucus meeting.
Suruma reportedly regretted the incident and apologised.
The caucus set up a five- member committee, chaired by Dr. Sam Lyomoki, to look into the general welfare of MPs, together with the Ministry of Finance.