Why removing Mpuuga as commissioner is a non-starter and void ab initio
The decision to kick Mpuuga out of the Commission came a few hours after the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among blocked debate about claims of corruption and abuse of office at Parliament.
The National Unity Platform (NUP) resolved to drop Nyendo-Mukungwe MP Mathias Mpuuga and replace him with Francis Zaake as Commissioner of Parliament.
In a statement signed by the Acting Party President, Dr. Lina Zedriga Waru, the party resolved to recall Mpuuga from the Commission after he allegedly failed to provide any satisfactory explanation of why he should not be recalled after allegedly engaging in the irregular allocation.
The decision to kick Mpuuga out of the Commission came a few hours after the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among blocked debate about claims of corruption and abuse of office at Parliament.
It is not clear whether her administration will let Mpuuga out of the Parliamentary Commission based on a recommendation by the NUP Executive Committee to allow Francis Zaake to resume the position.
According to Chris Obore, the director of communications and public affairs at parliament, the resolution of the NEC of NUP cannot have the effect of removing a Commissioner of Parliament.
He said the removal of a Commissioner is governed by the mandatory provisions of Rule 110 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament, where it can only be achieved through a motion for a resolution for the removal of a Commissioner.
Obore noted that this, “Shall be initiated by a notice in writing to the Clerk, signed by not less than one-third of all voting members of Parliament, indicating their intention for moving the motion for the removal,”
“A Commissioner shall be removed upon the vote of at least half of all the voting members of Parliament,” he added.
Despite NUP’s NEC resolving to recall Mpuuga from the position of commissioner, Obore confirmed that by close of business on March 15, 2024, the Clerk had not received any notice to that effect.
“The voting members of Parliament are 529. Therefore third of all voting Members of Parliament is 143. And a half of all voting members of Parliament would require 265 members voting in favor of the removal,” he explained.
It is further required that a Motion for the resolution under this rule shall be placed on the Order Paper, fourteen days from the date on which notice to remove the Commissioner shall have been communicated to the Clerk.
Under the parliament rules of procedure, a Member of the Commission, other than the Speaker or the Leader of Government business, Leader of the Opposition, or the Minister of finance may be removed from office by Parliament for incompetence, misconduct, insanity, and inability to perform the functions of his or her office arising from infirmity of body or mind.
