Maj Gen (rtd.) Matayo Kyaligonza has blasted MPs for making what he called a “stupid” decision to recall him as Uganda’s ambassador to Burundi over allegations that he assaulted a traffic Police officer on duty.
On Wednesday, MPs unanimously endorsed a motion moved by Pamela Kamugo, Budaka Woman MP, to recall Kyaligonza, following a Sunday brawl in which he and his bodyguards allegedly assaulted Sgt. Esther Namaganda.
Kyaligonza and two military Police officers were seen, in a video clip shared on social media, harassing Namaganda, who had stopped them after they allegedly made a U-turn at the Seeta junction in Mukono district.
This prompted a scuffle in which Kyaligonza is said to have slapped Namaganda while his bodyguards who were both clad in Military Police uniform were seen grabbing her by the collar, while asking where she had got the authority to stop the car.
But Kyaligonza, who is a member of the Central Executive Committee, the ruling National Resistance Movement’s top most organ, said he would not yield to pressure from his critics to resign from his job over the incident.
He says he only came out of his car to stop
“The Police officers who were in the Government gazetted uniforms from fighting each other”.
“That (resolution to recall me) is stupid. How would you recall me as if you took me there? Are you the appointing authority or the judge? Parliament has nothing to do and that is why it is stooping so low to start passing (such) resolutions,” he told Ugandanz yesterday.
He accused the lawmakers, including the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who presided over the session that passed the resolution, of not being genuine and sincere in their deliberations. He said he is not dying to be ambassador.
“When the time comes, I will go,” he stressed.
He denied slapping the officer and challenged his critics to produce a video showing him doing so.
“Why are they only showing the video of the soldiers holding her collar?” he asked. He argued that making a U-turn in the middle of the road, if there are no cars oncoming, is normal. “This happens even in Europe,” he said.
