Former Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA), Margret Zziwa has advised the new Speaker of the Assembly, Martin Ngoga to anticipate and prepare for challenges ahead of him as he steers the regional assembly.
Zziwa, whose term ended unceremoniously 2014 after being impeached by members of the assembly over misconduct, told Ngoga that he should take off time and study her experience and how she responded to it.
The former Speaker advised Ngoga to always respect the varying views of members but respond to them according to the rules that govern the house.
“We need to read our rules, grasp them and work within our means, ensure conformity with all the laws and the legal regimes. There are many dos and don’ts but you must be conversant with them and live within them,” Zziwa said.
Zziwa warned the Speaker to always be mindful of relationships that go on between staff members and the legislators because these can derail and jarpodize the smooth running of the assembly.
She called upon members to study and understand the controversies that were in the third term of EALA which events resulted in her impeachment.
“Despite members pushing hard for my resignation, I didn’t step down because I knew I was doing what was correct.”
She regretted that many of what happened would not have, if people didn’t go out to gang and caucus negatively, stage manage a walk out; forgetting the duty of objectivity and responsiveness of each member.
“This is an experience; look at it and the precedence because someone may drop on the very experience to jump on you. The assurance I can give you is that the process which was used to remove me, cannot be effected on you now because the Court ruled it null and void.”