Angry MP after another took to the microphone to hail speaker Rebecca Kadaga for standing up to the President and the executive.

President Yoweri Museveni in a national address, blasted MPs for allocating themselves money at a time when the nation needed it most.

Museveni then said: “It is morally reprehensible for MPs to give themselves money for personal use when the country is in such a crisis; totally unacceptable to me and the NRM.”

He added: “They have entered themselves into a trap and the best way out is to donate the money to the districts where they come from.”

The President’s remarks angered speaker Rebecca Kadaga and MPs who demanded the executive accords Parliament respect.

Following Museveni’s public outbursts, Speaker Kadaga responded: “I’ve also complained about attacks on Parliament by the Judiciary and the Executive. Further, I’ve told MPs to only adhere to the guidelines that I gave them; on how to expend the 20m/- that each received.”

NRM caucus met the President early this week to narrow the widening gap between the executive and Parliament. The meeting resolved that MPs be involved in the Covid-19 task force.

Museveni confirmed the meeting and the agreed position.  Government chief whip Ruth Nankabirwa led the select NRM members to State House for the meeting.

The President stated: “Meeting with a select committee of Members of NRM Parliamentary caucus at State House Entebbe. We agreed to form a constituency COVID-19 task force across the country for MPs to channel their support to their constituents. This is to avert pressure from individual leaders.”

However, the visit and resolutions adopted surprised members. Member after member took to the floor to attack the move as aimed at weakening the person of the speaker. Kiira Municipality MP Ibrahim Nganda Sssemujju moved a motion to stop further public attacks of the Parliament by the President.

Ssemujju moved a motion without notice that Parliament expresses itself against the disparaging remarks by the President over the shs10 Billion that was allocated for Covid-19 activities.

Ssemujju explained: “The purposes of this motion is to advise the President that he must use the official channels of communication when he wants to communicate to Parliament. We don’t expect a head of state to join a mob of those throwing mud at Parliament.”

The legislator also demanded an explanation from the ministers for finance, planning and economic development for their silence on the same issue and ‘yet they were involved in the passing of the supplementary”.

Aruu MP Odonga Otto hailed Kadaga and openly told the house she has his support.

Otto said: “The Speaker has the highest potential to be the president of this country. So they are trying everything possible to undermine the her achievements.”

He went on to add: “There are individuals who are working extra hard to see that the Speaker does not become a President of Flag of Uganda.”

Attempts by Kadaga to divert conversation from Aruu MP’s claims, did not stop MPs from hailing her.

Ssewungu Joseph Gonzaga, Kalungu County West MP stated: “Let us fight this kind of situation. I was surprised that the Minister Matia Kasaija was denying knowledge of the allocation of shs10 billion and yet he went ahead and said he had bought food for his constituency.”

Bugiri Municipality MP, Asuman Basalirwa charged: “At no time shall we surrender our power to the executive. Anybody denigrating the Speaker and Parliament and we follow that person, we are making a mistake. It was unfair for the President to make statements that brought disrepute to this House.”

Speaker Kadaga summed up the heated debate: “You know this ‘non-essential service’ is the one which has sat here and processed the budget of this country. We have passed laws during this hard times.”