The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Hon Anita Among has postponed a debate on the controversial deployment of Uganda People’s Defence Forces(UPDF) troops in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to next week.
During plenary on Tuesday, Among summoned the Defence Minister Hon Vincent Sempijja to present a report to the house on that matter in addition to officially requesting the deployment of the UPDF in Congo.
Opposition Mps had criticized the move by the government to send its troops to Congo without the consent of Parliament.
The Mps including Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake,Francis Mwijuke the Buhweju County Dr. Timothy Batuwa of Jinja City South West and Gilbert Oulanya of Kilak South said the government had not followed the right procedure before deploying Uganda’s forces outside the country.
However the speaker dismissed the argument and instead asked the MPs to table evidence to the claim that UPDF troops were in the DRC..
She also demanded a comprehensive report from the minister of defence on the deployment of the UPDF in Congo that would include an official request to send troops there.
Following this development,MPs have continued to raise concern over the same matter.
Kira municipality mp Ibrahim Ssemujju says Parliament should not elude the debate on the UPDF deployment in DRC since reports of their deployment started emerging on Monday.
He said that whereas the DRC Government didn’t need the authorization of its Parliament, the Ugandan government needed authorization from Parliament as the constitution provides.
Semujju noted that whenever such deployments happen ,heavy costs are incurred .
“If you recall,when we sent our troops to SouthSudan to help the government there,we were incurring costs of 60 billion shillings nearly every six months so there will be costs related to this fighting in the DRC.we need to be notified if the government will come here and seek authorisation or they think the constitution mandating them to do so doesnt matter anymore’
Deputy Speaker Among informed Parliament that the Minister of Defence, Vincent Ssempijja had written to her registering his absence and requested to have the statement made next week.
“In the sitting of Tuesday we agreed that the Defence Minister should come here to present a paper requesting for permission to be in the DRC but the Minister wrote to me and explained he will not be available until Tuesday next week to present a paper.”
On Tuesday this week, Ugandans woke up to the news that the armed forces had suddenly deployed in Congo to destabilize and destroy Allied Democratic Forces ADF rebel bases in the country.
By Zainab Ali
