• The senator accused the bearer of a certain office in Parliament of targeting her.
• She said the statement was a matter of last resort having exhausted all avenues permitted by law to seek justice over her grievances.
Nominated Senator Gloria Orobwa on Thursday opened up on the floor of the House about what she said are challenges she is facing in line with her legislative duty.
In a personal statement, the senator accused the bearer of a certain office in the Parliament of targeting her for whistle-blowing about alleged favouritism and solicitation for sexual favours by an influential member of the House.
The retaliation has been so magnanimous, she claimed, such that she was technically prevented from speaking at the United Nations' 53rd Human Rights Council session in Geneva in July where she was to present her legislative work and advocacy for women empowerment.
"This was based on all the work that I have been doing in terms of the period poverty campaign," the senator said.
Orwoba said she wrote to Parliament as early as mid-May asking for facilitation but was told it wasn't available for the July 6 conference prompting her to reach out to the organisers who agreed to pay for the trip.
"They really wanted me as a panellist in this particular event," she said.
She said despite submitting her passport on time for Visa processing, she learnt on the night before the trip that the passport was never submitted to the relevant embassy.
Orwoba said it came to pass that she missed the conference and went into a moment of self-reflection on what had been happening to her in the House.
She said she had all the while felt that as a new legislator, she could have not gotten the gist of how things are done but the passport issue was a wake-up call.
"Madam Speaker, after this particular event, I actually had a self-reflecting moment and I took account of all the incidences where I have faced challenges in terms of my work as a legislator and representative of the people."
The lawmaker said among the challenges she realized were deliberately fashioned against her is the frustration of five bills she has before the House including the Konza Bill.
Besides, Orwoba said she was also allocated an office at Parliament precincts without her consent, which office was running without her input.
She said she followed proper channels to report the incident but it took serious interventions for something to be done, including going to the police to have a signage board that indicated she was the occupant of the office brought down.
"The issue is that I was being impersonated or rather there was someone running an office and impersonating me claiming that that was my office...I have reported it to the police it is now a matter under investigation."
While noting that she would not mention names pursuant to Standing Order 58 which permits her to issue a personal statement, Orwoba said she was being directly targeted by the holder of an influential office of the Senate.
She said the statement was a matter of last resort having exhausted all avenues permitted by law to seek justice over her grievances.
"I have suffered because of representing women. I have been punished because of defending the girl child and the woman," she narrated.
The senator cited two more issues she said made her feel she was being unfairly targeted for speaking out about the ills in the House.
This she said includes her oversight and legislative agendas being swept under the carpet by certain committees.
She claimed that following her personal investigations, she has established that what she is going through is not unique to her but is something that other legislators are going through but may not have the courage to speak out about "individuals or offices who are operating as cartels".
"I have found out that there are serious emissaries, agents, who are actually against the work of this House. When they observe that there is a certain legislator who is pushing for certain things, they make sure that they diverge the course," she said.
The senator said she has been targeted mostly when pushing agendas that concern fellow women including the impeachment hearing of Meru Governor Kawira Mwangaza.
"And as we speak right now madam speaker, I have been blacklisted - and this is a fact - from any trips to represent this senate or this country madam speaker.
"There are certain things that are so obvious that certain offices here in the Senate are actually directly targeting me as a legislator and ensuring that I'm unable to prosecute my work as a legislator."
Senator Orwoba said the execution of Standing Order 58 is her last attempt at seeking justice for what she is going through and being allowed to persecute her work as a legislator.
She said the holder of the office advancing injustices against her is aware of what she is going through.
Her statement came on a day she was suspended from the House for the second session of the 13th Parliament over gross misconduct.
The House and Privileges Committee accused her of violating her privileges and making wild allegations about her colleagues in regard to the alleged solicitation for sexual favours and disrespecting them.
"The committee considered the evidence before it on this charge and given that there was no evidence to the contrary to refute the charge, the charge was therefore confirmed," the committee said while noting that Orwoba declined to honour an invitation to defend herself.
She will stay out of Parliament until February 2024.
"On resumption of Senate sitting for the third session, the senator, while at the bar apologises to the Senate, honourable senators, the clerk of the Senate and the secretariat of Parliament before being admitted to the senate," the committee ruled.