The Mityana municipality Member of Parliament Hon Francis Zaake, who was slated to appear before Parliament’s Rules, Privileges and Disciplinary committee for his errant behavior failed to appear for investigations into his conduct.
According to Abdul Katuntu the chairperson of the Parliamentary Rules, Privileges and Disciplinary committee, Zaake’s absence prompted the committee to direct its clerk to write to the Speaker of Parliament inquiring whether the MP is away on official leave or if he intentionally skipped an appearance and violated the directive.
“As the committee we were eagerly waiting for the legislator to respond to the summons, we were shocked to learn through a WhatsApp communication to the committee clerk that he was in the US doing his party’s (NUP) work,” said Katuntu.
During a Parliamentary session chaired by the Deputy speaker Thomas Tayebwa on 29th November 2022, Zaake defied the rules of procedure of Parliament and was sent to the disciplinary committee of Parliament to answer for unbecoming conduct in the house.
According to sources at Parliament, the committee has already received eye witnesses plus video footage of the CCTV cameras of the day in question.
The source further revealed that Zaake intentionally shunned the Parliamentary committee and chose to leave the country thinking he would be protected by the NUP members of parliament who vowed to fight for his seat in parliament.
“Zaake knows exactly what he is doing, by going into hiding; he is playing a sympathy card, and wants the public to think it’s a witch hunt so that they can orchestrate the plan by NUP MPs to bring a motion to dismiss the charges claiming he is being witch hunted,” the source revealed.
Zaake is not new to the disciplinary committee as he was in March sent to the committee for undermining the person of the Speaker, which led to the loss of his seat on the Parliamentary Commission.