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The Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday, September 28, 2023, that Zaake was unjustly impeached as a commissioner of Parliament because natural justice was not followed when the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, suspended him.
Five Justices led by Catherine Bamugemereire, Eva Luswata, and Irene Mulyagonja found that the Speaker of Parliament did not have a quorum when she suspended MP Zaake for a Facebook post he wrote criticising her.
Parliament has stated that it will consider the court's verdict and act in conformity with the law.
“We have received the judgement regarding Hon. Zaake Francis’ removal from the Parliamentary Commission. The judgement recognises the report of the Committee on Rules but faults the plenary process. We respect the decision of the court; we will study it and act in accordance with the law,” a post shared on Parliament’s official X platform reads.
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Zaake was impeached by fellow MPs on March 10, 2022, and he filed a constitutional petition challenging the manner in which he was removed from the Office of Commissioner of Parliament, which he says has since cost him all the privileges, entitlements, and responsibilities.
The five judges of the Constitutional Court noted that there were less than half of the MPs present in the house when Zaake was voted out of the commission, which is against Rule 84(1) of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament.
Only 161 MPs were in plenary, of whom 155 voted to expel Zaake.
The judges, on the other hand, referred to the amendment of the recommendations in the report of the parliamentary committee on rules, privileges, and discipline to include a recommendation that Zaake be removed from office, which the justices say had no basis in the law and was passed in contravention of articles 42 and 44(C) of the Constitution and Rule 110(5) in the Rules of Procedure of Parliament.