There was drama inside Bushenyi District Council hall on Tuesday, January 31, as the speaker narrowly survived being beaten by councillors over disagreements on the debate at hand.
Several councilors were seen shouting at Speaker Douglas Mucunguzi as he shouted back, which some others left their seats and accosted him, warning him to stop steering the debate in what they thought was a wrong direction.
Council was holding a special sitting in which the district councillors were supposed to debate a proposal for the upgrading Karinju and Imaramagambo forests to a national park. But the House was sharply divided on how the debate should be handled.
Drama ensued, prompting Speaker Mucunguzi to order some errant councillors to exit the council hall. With most of them refusing to leave, the speaker was left with no option but to suspend the sitting for half an hour.
Mucunguzi swore that he would not allow councillors to behalf in a way that places the District Council in disrepute instead of disagreeing honorably. Some councilors were heard shouting that money had been dished out to influence the proposal.
This is not the first time some there is chaos in formal sittings. In 2017, MPs exchanged blow over the amendment of the presidential age limit.
Just last year, there was shock at Parliament after an MP punched a police officer over vote rigging in an election to choose Ugandan representatives to regional Parliament, the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala). (Read Story Here).
