Court overturns MP Zaake’s dismissal from parliamentary commissioner position

By Elizabeth Ankunda

28^th Sept 2023

The Constitutional Court has quashed Parliament’s resolution to remove Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake from his position of Commissioner of Parliament.

In the ruling delivered on Thursday, the court ruled that the Speaker Anita Among offended the rules of natural justice and had no quorum in Parliament by the time the decision was made.

The court ruled that several Parliamentary Rules of Procedure were illegally suspended and these include; amending the Order Paper to include a resolution to expel Zaake from the Commission without giving him the opportunity to defend himself.

The Constitutional Court ruled that it was wrong for Among to be the complainant, prosecutor and judge in this matter.

A panel of five judges; Catherine Bamugemereire, Muzamiru Kibeedi, Eva Luswata, Irene Mulyagonja and Kihika heard the petition.

Speaking after the court, Zaake said that he is still a Commissioner of Parliament, according to the outcome of this case and it has been proved on Thursday that the Legislature as an arm of Government does not respect the laws it makes.

On March 10th, 2022, a total of 155 MPs voted to remove Zaake from the position of Commissioner of Parliament after being found guilty of disparaging the Speaker.

But Zaake challenged his impeachment before court, saying the presentation, debate and adoption of the motion, lack of supporting signatures and also the failure to put the impeachment motion on the Order Paper of the day were not right.

The MP claimed the move by his colleagues to investigate him over allegations that were committed outside the House on social media contravened Article 94(1) of the Constitution.