Hon. Ojara Martin Mapenduzi, the Bardege-Layibi Division has resigned as the Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (Local Government). The vocal opposition-leaning MP has been serving as the chairperson of this standing and accountability committee since 2021. By law, members on the standing committee are supposed to serve for two and a half years. At the time of his resignation, Mapenduzi was close to finishing his tenure.
During the Tuesday plenary sitting, Speaker Anita Among revealed how Mapenduzi has tendered his resignation letter with immediate effect.
“Before we broke off I got a resignation letter from the chairperson of PAC Local Govt, Hon Mapenduzi. He has resigned as chairperson, and we acknowledge and accept his resignation. However, he has pending reports to present because those are reports of the House, not his much as he has resigned,” Among said.
Rule 160 (7) of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament dictates that accountability committees such as Public Accounts (Central Government), Public Accounts (Local Government), Public Accounts (Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises), and Government Assurances and Implementation shall be chaired and deputized by Members designated by the official Opposition Party or Organization.
Subsequently, the Opposition Whip, John Baptist Nambeshe has designated Hon Gilbert Olanya (Kilak South) as the new chairperson of the PAC (Local Government).
Whereas Mapenduzi is an independent MP, he is leaning to the opposition, which explains his appointment as chairperson of the accountability committee. However, his loyalty to the opposition became questionable when he tabled a successful motion that led to the censure of NUP’s Francis Zaake (Mityana Municipality MP) as a backbench parliamentary commissioner over gross misconduct and misbehavior.