Eala committee steer clear of Bhanji case after disagreement

The East African Legislative Assembly committee on legal, rules and privileges was yesterday afternoon sharply divided over the next course of action in an alleged indiscipline case involving one of the members, Shy-Rose Bhanji from Tanzania. Bhanji is alleged to have engaged in gross misconduct which included verbal attacks to some members of the House and three presidents in the East African Community (EAC). Other allegations against Bhanji include ‘embarrassing’ the region and fellow legislators by getting drunk and ‘causing havoc’ on a passenger plane during a return trip from Brussels where an Eala delegation had visited the European Union Parliament. Ugandan MP Fred Mbidde Mukasa, who raised the issue during the committee meeting yesterday, said plenary proceedings had stalled after sittings had been adjourned twice in the past week. He urged fellow members of the committee to expeditiously handle the matter in accordance with their mandate and investigate the complaints against legal entities within EAC. Mbidde requested that the committee be provided with an extract of the report that highlights indiscipline and violation of the code of conduct by Bhanhji. “It would be unfortunate if work by the committee is never debated in the plenary because of the frequent adjourning of sessions. I do not think any of us wants to be remembered as a member of the Eala that failed East African citizens,” Mbidde said. The Eala Speaker, Margret Nantongo Zziwa, last Wednesday adjourned the sitting after the issue was brought up for debate, ordering that a report on the mission be submitted before deliberations about the matter can be held. Kenyan MP Joseph Kiangoi Ombasa, however, yesterday opposed Mbidde’s suggestion, saying the directive by the Speaker on the issue be followed and the House waits for the report on the Brussels’ mission to be tabled. “It is not proper for the committee to deliberate on the matter after the Speaker has given a directive on the way forward,” Kiangoi said. Judith Pareno, from Kenya, questioned the directive, saying the committee had a duty to guide the House out of the current stalemate. She observed that the House was not showing any signs of unlocking the stalemate soon. “How can we be sure that the commission working on the mission report is including this in their report? When a committee is outside the precincts of the House and people exchange words, can we import that to the House?” Pareno asked. Dora Byamukama Wilbert Kaahwa, the Counsel to the East African Community, said since the matter was already before the House, the committee should steer clear of possible confrontation with the House and the Speaker’s ruling and wait for the report to be tabled. Dora Byamukama, the committee’s chairperson upheld the decision for the committee to wait for the report to be tabled. In a related development, Bhanji has denied the allegations against her, saying they are part of a ploy hatched to damage her reputation and fail her from serving her constituents, Tanzanians. She denied insulting three East African presidents, saying she held all of the region’s leaders and citizens in high esteem. “As an Eala MP, I refute the allegations against me. They are falsehoods aimed at damaging my reputation,” Bhanji wrote on the social media platform, Twitter. “There is, for instance, no iota of truth in the allegations that I was drunk, broke a bottle and handcuffed during a trip to Brussels. If these allegations are indeed true, then why wasn’t I reported to police? the Tanzanian legislator wrote. She wondered why it took fellow legislators two weeks to raise the issue. She added that the “witch-hunt” against her could have come from a section of members wishing to impeach the House Speaker as she had strongly objected to the move as she feels that Zziwa has not shown any traits of being incapable. She said the move was, however, not a surprise as she had been vocal in advocating her country and the region’s interest making her unpopular amongst fellow members who were against the cooperation spirit.

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Eala committee steer clear of Bhanji case after disagreement