Odit wrongly sacked â€" Speaker
Oct 16, 2008
THE Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, yesterday said the former chairman of the statutory authorities, commissions and state enterprises committee, John Odit, was wrongfully dismissed,
THE Speaker of Parliament, Edward Ssekandi, yesterday said the former chairman of the statutory authorities, commissions and state enterprises committee, John Odit, was wrongfully dismissed, reports Milton Olupot and Cyprian Musoke.
Ssekandi said: “If rule 13 (10) was the one used, it was wrong, it should have been 134. If this is not the case, I advise you to sort it out.â€
Chwa MP Livingstone Okello-Okello (UPC) had asked the Speaker to clarify on what circumstances a chairperson or a vice-chairperson of a parliamentary committee can be removed.
Odit was sacked in September at a time when he was presiding over the committee probing the NSSF land saga.
He was accused of travelling with President Yoweri Museveni to Iceland without the permission of his appointing authority, opposition chief whip Cassiano Wadri.
Odit has since protested the sacking.
The issue threatened to tear apart the recently clinched alliance between opposition parties.
Uganda People’s Congress, the party to which Odit belongs, wanted to pull out.
Okello-Okello told the Speaker that Odit had been removed under rule 13(10), a rule, he said, only applied at the stage of the formulation of a committee and not for the removal of chairpersons and deputies.
“Rule 34 could have been used but this also only provides for the removal by a party that has assigned that member to the specific committee,†Okello-Okello said.
He clarified that at the time of formulation of committees, rule 34 could also affect chairpersons and vice-chairpersons, because once they are removed as members, they automatically lose the chair.
Ssekandi said: “If rule 13 (10) was the one used, it was wrong, it should have been 134. If this is not the case, I advise you to sort it out.â€
Chwa MP Livingstone Okello-Okello (UPC) had asked the Speaker to clarify on what circumstances a chairperson or a vice-chairperson of a parliamentary committee can be removed.
Odit was sacked in September at a time when he was presiding over the committee probing the NSSF land saga.
He was accused of travelling with President Yoweri Museveni to Iceland without the permission of his appointing authority, opposition chief whip Cassiano Wadri.
Odit has since protested the sacking.
The issue threatened to tear apart the recently clinched alliance between opposition parties.
Uganda People’s Congress, the party to which Odit belongs, wanted to pull out.
Okello-Okello told the Speaker that Odit had been removed under rule 13(10), a rule, he said, only applied at the stage of the formulation of a committee and not for the removal of chairpersons and deputies.
“Rule 34 could have been used but this also only provides for the removal by a party that has assigned that member to the specific committee,†Okello-Okello said.
He clarified that at the time of formulation of committees, rule 34 could also affect chairpersons and vice-chairpersons, because once they are removed as members, they automatically lose the chair.