Uganda: Parliament session suspended after female MPs threaten to assault male legislator

An unusual incident was witnessed in Uganda's Parliament on Thursday after a section of female legislators attempted to rough up a male counterpart for making derogatory remarks about a female MP.

Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake came under fire after a video of him insulting Rabai Woman MP Juliet Kinyamatama was played in the House forcing Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa to adjourn the sitting to Tuesday next week.

Prior to the incident, Kinyamatama had asked the House to play the video and take action against Zaake for directing the unprintable remarks towards her when Uganda marked its Independence Day celebrations on Monday.

"On October 9, one of our members, the Hon. Zaake, came to my constituency and used defamatory words against me that I cannot mention here," Kinyamatama is quoted as saying by the Monitor.

Some MPs initially shot down Kinyamatama's request on grounds that her plea had not been captured in the plenary's agenda but Tayebwa decreed that she had every right to raise the issue.

"Point of procedure comes at any time. A member has raised the point of procedure, allow the member to say what she is saying then I will rule whether she is procedurally right or not," said the Deputy Speaker.

The Monitor reported that Tayebwa then ruled that the video would not be played in the House but the complaint would be forwarded to the House's Disciplinary Committee for review.

The Deputy Speaker however rescinded his initial order and allowed the video to be played owing to how adamant Kinyamatama was.

As soon as the video was played, chaos erupted in the House forcing Tayebwa to suspend the sitting for ten minutes.

When the session resumed, the video was played again but a disruptive commotion emanating from outside the plenary hall disturbed normal proceedings.

Female legislators later told the Monitor that Zaake was lucky to be escorted out of the House since they had planned to rough him up for his remarks.