The speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga has charged at the judiciary accusing it of extremism and abuse of authority.
Kadaga was reacting to a statement by deputy attorney general Mwesigwa Rukutana on the developments that led to the collapse of an order issued by deputy chief justice Steven Kavuma, halting debate on the controversial oil cash bonuses to government officials involved in a tax arbitration case between Uganda and Heritage Oil.
The order was issued prior to the anticipated motion in parliament on the bonanza in which 42 top government officials shared between themselves Shs 6 billion for helping Uganda secure Shs 1.4 trillion in capital gains tax from Heritage’s sale of its stake to Tullow Oil in 2013.
The order which Kadaga initially referred to as ‘stupid’ prompted the suspension of parliament sittings pending its vacation. The sittings resumed yesterday after the petitioner, Electoral Commission lawyer, Eric Sabiiti withdrew his application following a public uproar.
In her communication to parliament, Kadaga put Rukutana to task to think about the abuse of judicial authority in the country. She cited the same order as an example saying that justice Kavuma issued an injunction basing on a petition that had no basis or need for urgency.
“Because if you ask yourself, what is the locus stand of Sabiiti? He is a man just walking on the street and then he develops some illusions that something is about to happen. He goes and writes some compliant. He is able to get to court in a few minutes to file..hearing [and then the] ruling. What was the urgency [for]? What did he base the application for an injunction? What is proposed, a resolution of this House? Was it an order paper? It was just his mind. And based on his mind, the judge says I believe what is in your head and after issues an injunction against the third arm of the state. Casually. So what constitutes a constitutional petition?” she said.
Kadaga reiterated her determination to protect the independence of legislature saying that no one can take away the constitutional right of parliament.
“To stop parliament, IGG, auditor general and anybody else from inquiring…that is the effect of that order. So please inform them that this kind of extremism is not good for this country.” said Kadaga.
Rukutana told the House that before his office moved to file an application against Kavuma’s order on January 13, they were served with an order that the petitioner, Eric Sabiiti, had withdrawn his petition.
However, Kadaga insisted that the attorney general’s interpretation of the effect of lawyer Sabiiti’s withdrawal was not in consonance with her understanding of the law.
“There was a specific order which we asked you to vacate, not the petition. There was a specific order and we want emphasis on that and we want answers on that.” Kadaga insisted.
Rukutana responded saying that the interim order was granted pending the determination of the main application and the lawyer’s move to withdraw his petition meant that he lost interest in pursuing the petition and all the other resultant petitions.
“We looked at the orders of the court and we satisfied ourselves that there was nothing remaining in court for us to apply set aside. Therefore your order to pass was satisfied by the petitioner withdrawing both the petition and the application for temporary injunction. As you may recall madam speaker and honourable members what was restraining in court was an interim injunction pending the determination of an application for temporary injunction. Now that the application for temporary injunction was withdrawn, there’s nothing in court that we could go to court to set aside.” he said.
Meanwhile, the MPs unanimously agreed to institute a committee to investigate the oil bonanza cash now referred to in the public domain as the ‘presidential handshake’.
During a stormy NRM parliamentary caucus meeting at State House Entebbe on Tuesday, President Museveni said he would not let parliament malign the 42 public officials who shared a Shs 6bn bonus payment. Museveni said parliament was not ‘God’ and said the beneficiaries of his ‘handshake’ were “heroes” to the country.