Muntu meets Kadaga over MPs who crossed to ANT

Mugisha Muntu led other leaders from his Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) to a meeting of with speaker of parliament Rebecca Kadaga.

Also part of the delegation was ANT secretary general Alice Alaso and Jinja Municipality East MP Paul Mwiru, who recently crossed from main opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) to ANT.

Read: Mwiru says discussing reasons for crossing to ANT can destroy FDC

The August 04 meeting at Parliament discussed the issue of ANT’s membership to the Interparty Organisation for Dialogue (Ipod).

Ipod includes political parties with representation in Parliament. Current Ipod members include: FDC, the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), Democratic Party (DP), Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), and Justice Forum (Jeema).

“I will consult widely, especially on the issue of MPs that have since crossed from one party to the other; including the ANT party,” said Kadaga.

“The current law allows any MP to cross during the last six months of Parliament’s tenure. We shall discuss whether Parliament can immediately change the register and recognize the said MPs.”

The speaker said the decision to recognize defectors will be reached through participatory consultation.

“The stakeholders will include Parliament’s Legal Dept; the Uganda Law Society; and others,” she said.

Besides Mwiru, other MPs have in recent weeks left their parties to join new ones, especially ANT and Kyadondo East MP Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP).

On August 03, NUP officially received five MPs, including ruling NRM’s John Baptist Nambeshe of Manjiya County and Francis Zaake Butebi of Mityana Municipality.