The Rakai District Woman Member of Parliament, Juliet Kinyamatama, has asked Parliament’s Rules, Privileges and Discipline Committee to subject Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake to a thorough mental checkup and have him thrown out of Parliament for the remaining two and half years of his remaining term in the 11th Parliament.
My prayers are that the Hon. Zaake is subjected to a thorough mental examination at any of the national mental facilities to ascertain the mental state of the member given his conduct in and out of Parliament. Hon. Zaake will be suspended from Parliament and all its premises and the rest of the session for the 11th Parliament, said Kinyamatama.
Kinyamatama made the appeal while appearing before the Committee, which has recently resumed investigations into allegations that Zaake made derogatory remarks against her while at a rally in her constituency last year.
During the meeting, Kinyamatama made several demands to the Committee, including the need to have Parliament force Zaake to render an equivocal apology before Parliament, retracting the defamatory statement as contained in the video clip.
Zaake implied that I am engaged in commission of the criminal offense of prostitution against the provisions of sections 139 of the penal code act whose punishment is imprisonment for a period of seven years. This is unacceptable and derogatory to any woman in this era to be referred to as a sex worker. The statements by Hon. Zaake have exposed me to public laughter, indescribable hatred, mockery and ridicule. The statements were so demeaning, very humiliating, very derogative and unacceptable especially coming from a fellow member of parliament, said Kinyamatama.
However, the defence’s cross-examination of Kinyamatama turned dramatic when Zaake’s lawyer, Elias Lukwago, asked the plaintiff to clarify why she was offended by allegations of prostitution with Lukwago.
You were talking about allegations of prostitution, are you a prostitute? asked Lukwago.
In response, Kinyamatama said,
I only talked about the allegations because that was the allegation in the video clip, that is how I talk about it. I am not a prostitute, and I will never be.
Lukwago also asked Kinyamatama to clarify if she was the person referred to in the video, noting that the name mentioned in the clip is Kyamatama, to which Lukwago asked.
No, can I explain my no? I am not Kyamatama; I want to explain that I am the only Woman MP in Rakai district. There is no other Woman MP whose name is close to Kyinyamatama or Kyamatama. So when someone says in the video clip and mispronounces your name but means you, by saying don’t bring back those MPs, I am the only Woman MP in Rakai district, Kinyamatama responded.
Her response angered Lukwago, who walked out of the Committee protesting the failure by Kinyamatama to differentiate between the name in the clip and her own name and asked the Committee to ensure that Kinyamatama also clarified the type of prostitution being referred to in the clip, saying it could mean political prostitution.
