Opposition lawmakers Tuesday boycotted President Museveni’s annual State of the Nation Address (SoNA) 2022.
By 2:53pm, majority of the seats reserved for Uganda’s more than 100 opposition legislators remained empty as Mr Museveni delivered his address before some more than 350 parliamentarians convened at Kololo Independence grounds.
The Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), Mathias Mpuuga, made it clear that their protest was to show displeasure over what he described as “Mr Museveni’s continued interference with the judiciary.”
“We are concerned by the manner in which bail is being delayed by the courts,” he said at a time when two opposition Members of Parliament (MPs) are currently jailed.
According to Mr Mpuuga, dissident MPs also preferred to stay away from the constitutional event at Kololo due to Uganda’s economic crisis with inflation at 6.3% entering June.
“The second reason is his (Mr Museveni) failure to speak to and offer tangible solutions to the worsening economic situation in the country,” Mr Mpuuga said as he informed that their decision was uniformly upheld at the 39th Shadow Cabinet meeting early June 7.
The Nyendo-Mukungwe MP added that the president “has reduced the SoNA to State of his feelings address.”
“That’s a huge constraint to us. We’re aware that even today, he’s going to say that he has nothing to do to get the country out of the depression. We are not interested in dozing,” he said on Tuesday at the conclusion of the 1st session of the 11th Parliament.
On May 22, 2022, President Museveni emphasized that government will not subsidies or cut taxes in response to escalating prices of essential commodities.
