NUP-MPs to defy forced Covid-19 vaccination

By Francis Lubega

1^st Nov 2021

The National Unity Platform-NUP, the party with the largest number of Member of Parliament on the opposition side has said it is going to defy the Deputy Speaker’s order banning all unvaccinated people from accessing parliament. 

Last week, Anita Annet Among, the deputy speaker said that nobody including MPs, support staff and the public will be allowed to access parliament unless they can prove that they were vaccinated.

But speaking in Kampala today, Joel Ssenyonyi, the spokesperson of NUP who is also a Member of Parliament representing Nakawa West constituency said Among’s order is not only illegal but also runs contrary to the current Covid-19 realities where the number of vaccines available are fewer than the population eligible for vaccination.

In a letter written on October 29th addressed to Members of Parliament, support staff and the general public, Henry Yoweri Waiswa the deputy clerk to parliament said the order is aimed at increasing uptake of the Covid-19 jabs that are currently available in the country.

Meanwhile, NUP has called upon the Uganda Prisons Services specifically and government generally to allow MPs Muhammad Ssegirinya and Allan Ssewanyana access medical treatment outside prisons where they are currently on remand.

The two MPs were last week denied bail by the Masaka High Court following their re-arrest on charges of murder that locked greater Masaka area two months ago.

Meanwhile Ssenyonyi called upon President Museveni to stop politicizing security matters saying said the suggestion that politicians and Muslims could have been behind the bombings at Komamboga and in a Swift bus could lead security away from focusing on the real culprits.