KAMPALA: Mr Mathias Mpuuga, Leader of the Opposition, has requested an urgent parliamentary meeting to examine the country’s continuing fuel issue.
Mpuuga makes his request in a letter dated January 19, citing shortages of gasoline and excessive rates charged by those having stock. He claims that if quick action is not done to solve the situation, a nation may shut down.
It’s time for lawmakers to return from break to share their constituents’ experiences, give leadership, engage government, and help solve the situation.
Rule 21 of the Parliament Rules of Procedure requires a petition signed by at least a third of the legislators to recall members from recess. As per this requirement, it requires 186 MPs out of the 559 members of the 11th parliament to sign a petition for the House to be recalled. However, Mpuuga has requested the Speaker to use his powers to recall the House earlier than January 17, 2022, which is the communicated date for the resumption of parliamentary sittings.
“This is premised on the fact that the crisis is escalating and requires urgent attention before it manifests into a huge economic and security crisis,” Mpuuga explained. Addressing journalists this morning, Mpuuga said that he is alive to the procedures for the recall of parliament but also to the powers of the Speaker.
Petrol prices have been rising sharply since early last year, but skyrocketed at the beginning of this month following a strike by truck drivers at the Kampala-Kenya border in Busia and Malaba. The truckers were contesting the requirement for another COVID-19 test at the border even after presenting a negative PCR test.
According to Mpuuga, petroleum prices are linked directly to consumer prices and immediate action by the government is important for the situation to go back to normal.
He added that it was a case of negligence for the government and its officials to give different communications on the matter.
At an appearance before Parliament’s Finance Committee on Tuesday, Amos Lugoloobi, the Minister of State for Planning, told MPs that the government is handling the challenge of fuel in the country that arose from a policy problem to control the spread of COVID-19. Lugoloobi added that the issue is just a disruption in the entry of trucks from the border.