Uganda’s opposition MPs walk out of parliament over ‘illegal detentions’

By Godfrey Olukya

KAMPALA, Uganda (AA) - More than 100 opposition members of Uganda's parliament staged a walkout Thursday over what they called cases of "torture and illegal detentions" in the country.

The members, led by opposition leader Mathias Mpuuga, walked out after a disagreement with Deputy Speaker Anita Among over a report on missing Ugandans, including those in detention without trial and those alleged to have been tortured.

They wanted it to be discussed, but the deputy speaker said it should be discussed next Tuesday.

Before the walkout, Mpuuga said: “We cannot sit in parliament while some of our colleagues are suffering in jails.”

Among those in jail are two opposition MPs who were arrested about four months ago on allegations of murder.

The deputy speaker said “I will never bow down to tantrums by opposition to suspend plenary sittings. They have disrespected the solutions I came up with on brutality by security forces.”

Ruling party lawmaker Simon Silwany criticized the opposition, saying all members of parliament are against torture and mistreatment of Ugandans but it is wrong for the opposition to walk out because the only platform that the lawmakers can discuss issues is parliament.

The Internal Affairs Ministry refuted the claims of torture and imprisonment without trial, saying it will submit a report next week.