[UAH] Expelled NRM legislators are now de facto independents

In ancient Roman times, when an army surrendered, there were three alternatives to deal with the vanquished: they could be put to death, but at the beginning of Roman power there was a tradition against unnecessary bloodshed; they might keep them as slaves; or they could let the vanquished go free but after passing under the yoke, disarmed and wearing only under garments and sometimes with the heads of their commanders impaled on stakes or spears, in recognition of their humiliating defeat.

The word "subjugate" is derived from the Latin "subjugates", which is the past participle of subjugare (sub+jugum, under the yoke). The saga of the four MPs expelled from NRM is a reminder that passing under the yoke is after all not such an ancient humiliating ritual. It is alive and kicking and not in historical tales of ancient Rome but in modern day Uganda.

The NRM leadership, having expelled them from "their" party, still want to pass them under the yoke by expelling them from "their" Parliament. In my other life, I had an occasion when I had to choose between obeying a superior officer or the law. I wrote to the superior officer that I had chosen to obey the law. Guided by the Constitution, Parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga chose not to obey superior party officials.

I am sure having been around in 2005, she could recall that the provision her party wanted her to invoke had been defeated by the Parliament in which she was a member and in which she is now the presiding officer. Most likely she is now called a "rebel" in some circles. So be it. Her comfort and strength should lie in the knowledge that she who abides by the law and the Constitution cannot be a "rebel". The rebels are those who continue to abuse and emasculate the Constitution and the rule of law.

NRM arrogance knows no bounds. Having without shame equated Parliament with subordinate organs of NRM, they have gone ahead to equate the leadership of NRM with the people of Uganda. In Point No.1 of the Ten Point Response to the ruling of the Speaker, the NRM leadership accuse the Speaker of ignoring "to apply the provisions of the Constitution ...and fell short of taking cognizance of Article 1(2), which empowers the people of Uganda…" The people of Uganda referred to here is, of course, the NRM leadership, otherwise when did the people of Uganda expel the four MPs from NRM?

The NRM is the State of Uganda and now the NRM leadership has become the people of Uganda! Point No. 3 goes on to assert that the Speaker has created an unknown category of MPs. But are they not too late to raise this question? Why did they not raise it when MPs Alex Onzima and Beti Kamya were expelled from FDC ? Where were they sitting in Parliament? Were they another category of MPs or not? When NRM entered into agreements with independents to support NRM where do they sit? Where do UPDF MPs sit and where do other special interest groups sit? Incidentally, are all disabled people and workers and 80 per cent of youth in Uganda NRM, otherwise why do their MPs sit on the NRM side?

All independents that are appointed to Cabinet de facto cross to NRM, why are they not expelled from Parliament?
Finally, the NRM strongly stated that they would petition court against the Speaker's ruling and NRM is a corporate body that can sue and be sued, why are they then hiding under the skirts of an ordinary supporter and a backbench MP, whose locus standi will become an issue if the case is ever heard? In any case I can see the NRM chairman becoming a star witness as one of the charges against the four expellees is that they campaigned for non-NRM candidates, whereas he is known to have campaigned for many more non-NRM candidates like Alex Onzima after he was defeated in NRM primaries, than the expelled MPs.

He would have to explain why it is right for him and not for others. NRM leaders know they have no valid case against the Speaker's ruling and should refrain from wasting public resources and the court's time. The expelled MPs are de facto independents.
Mr Ruzindana is a former IGG and former MP. a_ruzindana@yahoo.com

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"War is nothing but a  continuation of political intercourse, with a mixture of other means. Man will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." 

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