Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has today called for mutual respect from the judicial arm of government following various interim court orders, court summons and interruptions of parliament last year.
In December last year High Court justice Margaret Oguli summoned the speaker to appear before court after suspension of six ant age limit bill legislators for who included Allan Ssewanyana, Mubarak Manyangwa, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, Gerald Karuhanga, Jonathan Odur and Anthony Akol.
However in January 2017, the former deputy chief justice Stephen Kavuma issued an interim order blocking parliament from investigating into the Shs 6 billion that was shared by Uganda revenue authority (URA) officials after they reportedly won a Capital Gains Tax case for Uganda against two oil prospecting companies, Heritage Oil and Tullow Oil.
“I direct the Attorney General to move to Court and have this stupid order vacated, I will adjourn the committees and plenary until the Court order is vacated”. She reacted to justice Kavuma’s interim order.
‘’I think there is a need for arms of the state to give each other space, ”A court cannot order the Speaker to close the House and come and attend a court session’’. Said Kadaga at the opening of the New Law Year event at the Kampala High Court.
She noted that parliamentary privileges and immunity should be protected and no one should be served over civil matters within house premises or during sittings.
In his remarks, the president of Uganda Law Society (ULS) Patrick Gimara called for mutual respect from judges, ”law dons are often humiliated by tough judges before their clients, public and media’’.
‘’We want an end to the patterns of impunity and recklessness we saw in 2017 stopped, Non-judicial officers shouldn’t block enforcement of court orders and decisions’’ he warned.
