Mr Samuel Odonga- Otto, the Member of Parliament for Aruu County in Pader district has said he regrets why he did not eat the parliamentary documents that he tore up in the house.
During a heated Parliamentary debate in August 2013, the Aruu County legislator grabbed a paper containing a list of members which was being used to force through a vote on the disputed Public Order and Management Bill, 2011, and ripped it into shreds in front of the Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah.
The Deputy Speaker was forced to bring the session to a premature end and abandon the chamber as tempers flared.
Trouble started after he invoked Rule 80 of Parliament to suspend Odonga- Otto along with Lwemiyaga MP Theodore Sekikubo and Kyadondo East MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda whom he accused of “misconduct” on account of their opposition to the passing of the Bill.
MP Odonga- Otto says the only regret he has is that he will not have a second chance to tear and eat the papers on the floor of Parliament.
“Just let me say this about tearing papers in Parliament. I have no regrets whatsoever for doing what I did. The only regrets I have in relation to the event of tearing or destroying papers in Parliament is that I should have eaten those torn papers,’ says MP Odonga- Otto.
“If I had a second chance, I would have eaten and swallowed them so that it goes into the Guinness book of Records. I am a no nonsense person. I did that very deliberately and I have no regrets,’’ the Aruu lawmaker added.
Following the incident, Odonga- Otto vowed not to attend any House session chaired by Jacob Oulanyah, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
He described Oulanyah as biased and demanded that his conduct be investigated by the Speaker of Parliament.
Later in August 2013, the Aruu MP launched a bid to run against Oulanyah for Omoro County MP seat which the Deputy Speaker represents in Parliament saying his desire to run had been triggered by Oulanyah’s insanity.
Odonga- Otto said he would stand only for one term because his main objective is to redeem the image of Acholi as tribe for the errors Oulanyah made in his capacity as the Deputy speaker of Parliament.
The two Acholi politicians had bad blood in July when Oulanyah threw Odonga Otto out of Parliament during the controversial passing of the unpopular Public Order Management Bill (POMB).
Oulanyah has so far apologized for his action and attributed part of his mistake to his boss Ms Rebecca Kadaga of what he described as a set up.
1 Comment
I wish we have 5 the likes of Samuel Odonga in the Uganda parliament hailing from the Acholi region-all the pretenders would have not found any ground in Acholi land. Samuel, the son of Otto Acholi people love you and we wish one day the Virgin Mary which redirected you to come again back to the pitch allows you to become Uganda president.