Government officials, opposition meet over alleged kidnap of individuals by security agencies

Officials of the central government, opposition and Parliament Leaders have met over the alleged kidnap of individuals by security agencies.

The meeting held in the office of the Parliament Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa included Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, the Government Chief whip Hamson Obua, the Minister of ICT and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister of Defence Okoth Oboth Oboth and Leader of Opposition in Parliament Mathias Mpuuga.

In the meeting, Baryomunsi went on the offensive, accusing Mpuuga and his colleagues of presenting wrong information to destabilise the government.

The government side also demanded that Mpuuga and the group submit a new list of the allegedly kidnapped members for a better review.

Mpuuga said that the government must be held accountable for missing persons since 2020. He turned down the demand to submit new lists, asking why they have not yet expressed themselves on the lists already submitted early this year.

He accused the government officials of negligence, citing that they could not have lost the lists submitted to Nabbanja and parliament respectively.

“She (Nabbanja) can't convince me that she lost it. But also, all these lists were captured on the official record of Parliament; the Hansard. The PM and her team can't be too lazy to fail to retrieve those lists,” he said.

We have presented about four lists, the last being on October 6, 2021, upon the request of the government following a meeting that was chaired by the Deputy Speaker. They have up to Tuesday next week to explain the whereabouts of each of our people short of which, a formal declaration will be made to the country that these people be included on the list of the people who have been killed by this regime,” Mpuuga continued.

Tayebwa on his part also indicated that the documents presented in the meeting had some gaps and the meeting was not conclusive.

“In our meeting, we realized that the documents presented had some gaps. We have given ourselves up to Tuesday next week to conclude the matter and report to the house. In case there are any new cases, they should be brought to our attention and we handle them before reporting to the House,” Tayebwa said.

The meeting also agreed on new delegations to appear for the next one.