Parliament Suspended as NUP Mp Zaake is Punched in Fiery Coffee Bill Debate

Chaos erupted during the Parliament plenary sitting on Wednesday morning forcing the Speaker, Anita Among to suspend debate for 30 minutes.

Confusion ensued when the Mitanya Municipality Member of Parliament, Francis Zaake alleged that there was a man with a gun in the house chambers, which is restricted for non members, referred to as strangers.
“Madam Speaker there is a gun in the house. There is gun here to intimidate us and I am concerned as a victim of gun in this house,” said Zaake.

Speaker then sked the Sargent at Arms to subject the accused person to a security check and it was ascertained there was no gun.

Unconvinced, Zaake went to conduct the search by himself resulting into an altercation with Amuru South MP, Anthony Akol.

The arguments between Zaake and Akol ensued into a physical fistfight.

The whole house turned chaotic and Speaker suspended sitting for 30 minutes.

The mood was already heightened on Wednesday morning as the House is expected to vote and pass the contentious Coffee Amendment Bill.

The opposition and Buganda Caucus are against the Bill and mainly opposed to the mainstreaming of Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) to the Ministry of Agriculture.

The Government has however maintained that the Coffee Amendment Bill is part of Rationalization of agencies to cut wasteful expenditure and realign service delivery.