The opposition Members of Parliament have remained defiant of directives issued by the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Annet Among, against the current boycott of plenary sessions.

Led by the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Parliament, Mathias Mpuuga, the legislators held a press conference at Parliament on Thursday, November 23, 2023, and threatened to continue boycotting plenary sessions until the government presented a detailed list of missing opposition supporters.

Mpuuga described the latest directive issued by the Speaker regarding the opposition boycott as diversionary, saying his side will not engage in verbal exchange with the Speaker, who is meant to be an arbiter between the two warring sides.

He noted that there is no comparison one can make with the allowance MPs get out of travel per diem with the lives of the people who have been killed or gone missing.

Mpuuga also maintained that, despite the new orders issued by the Speaker, the opposition will not return for plenary sittings until the state accounts for the human rights violations.

“Otherwise, our demands still stand that we are not available. Once the days we gave to the Executive expire, we shall one day return to the House to make another demand: to show us the burial grounds of the bodies of these missing Ugandans,” Mpuuga said.

If they (the security ministers) traveled for a security meeting out of the country, is it true that they are in exile and aren’t going to come back? Are they dead? Have they disappeared like the other people? These gentlemen are alive; we need them back to respond,” he added.

Denis Hamson Obua, the Government Chief Whip, urged the Speaker of Parliament to use all the available laws to recall opposition legislators to order.

However, in retaliation, Speaker Among said the government has not failed to respond, but it cannot answer to people who are not attending plenary sittings.

“The ones who asked for the report are not in the house. Let them come back, and we can give them a report,” Among said.

On Wednesday, November 22, 2023, while presiding over the plenary session, Speaker Among ordered the Clerk to Parliament to impose on MPs boycotting plenary sittings not to be allowed to attend committees and travel abroad, wondering why these MPs should be allowed to represent Uganda at the East African Games in December in Rwanda, yet they aren’t representing their voters in Parliament.

Among  also told off MPs attacking her on social media over her decision to expel MPs who have chosen not to attend plenary sitting, saying she’s immune to their attacks because the impasse on human rights violations was created by the Executive and not Parliament.

Opposition MPs led by Mpuuga have been boycotting Parliamentary sessions for the past few weeks, protesting the government’s decision not to present the list of missing supporters.