A government team led by the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja have failed to agree with the opposition on the issue of resubmitting a fresh list of the missing opposition supporters who were allegedly abducted by state operatives from 2020 to date.
The meeting which was held in the Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa’s office is a follow-up meeting on the demands by the opposition for the government to account for the missing opposition supporters.
The government asked Mpuuga to resubmit the names of those missing supporters so that further steps can be taken as soon as possible.
In the meeting which was not conclusive, Tayebwa explained that the reason they are asking for the fresh resubmission of the list is because they discovered that the documents in their possession were incomplete.
He said that they have agreed that on Tuesday next week they will have another engagement to discuss in detail some of these issues regarding the missing opposition supporters before the afternoon plenary.
“What we are handling is not for us as leaders in the House, the issue is for the country. If there are any new cases, we agree that they should also be shared. On Tuesday we shall handle this matter on the floor of Parliament after our engagement which will take place at 10,” said Tayebwa.
In the meeting, Mpuuga again declined a demand to resubmit a fresh list of the abductees and asked the Prime Minister and her team to retrieve a record of Parliamentary proceedings for the lists.
The first list, with over 400 names, was presented to the House in March 2021 before the expiry of the 10th Parliament.
Under the current Parliament, Mpuuga has presented about 4 lists, the last being on October 6, 2021 upon the request of the government following a meeting that was chaired by the deputy Speaker.
On Sunday, Mpuuga, while at a fundraiser for the expansion of St Joseph’s Sub Parish Church Nyendo, in Masaka City, asked the government to first account for the persons listed in the previous 5 lists before he can submit a new one.
Mpuuga insisted that the government should first give a full accountability of all the people who were abducted, some of whom have been missing since 2020.
“We have presented at least 4 lists, the last being on October 6 which was directly addressed to Nabbanja herself. She can’t convince me that she lost it but also, all these lists were captured on the official record of Parliament. The Prime Minister and her team can’t be too lazy to fail to retrieve those lists,“ he said.
He explained that they have given the government up to Tuesday next week to explain the whereabouts of each of their people before further actions are taken.
Short of which, he said 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.
