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{{The Speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala) Margaret Zziwa ({above}) Friday lashed out at her opponents for seeking to overthrow her because they saw her as an obstacle to their quest to raise their salaries.}}

Speaking against a backdrop of rising tension and a censure motion, Ms Zziwa said some members had set up a demand for a 100 per cent pay rise, which would double their monthly pay to $10,000.

“Some members feel that they should be better remunerated and I have failed to do that,” she told media. “Now they have found someone who says she can grant them a 200% increment if she is elected the Speaker.”

But she dismissed her rival’s promise as “pure lies” and pointed out that the Speaker is not responsible for raising the salaries of MPs. “Only heads of state have the power to do so,” Ms Zziwa added.

Her detractors accuse her of being incompetent and arrogant. But Zziwa told reporters that she lost popularity after she decided to bring to heel MPs who collect allowances only to disappear without attending scheduled sessions.

She added: “I can assure you that the whole censure motion is because of welfare…where does the arrogance or misconduct come from? No one has ever proved to me or to the members of East African Community that I am arrogant or incompetent.”

Some members from Tanzania and Kenya reportedly went as far as to intimidate those who did not support the censure motion. Tensions were so high, according to Ms Zziwa, that one Tanzanian MP called the Kenyan high commissioner seeking protection after she was allegedly threatened by her counterpart from that country.

The Eala session was adjourned indefinitely on Tuesday after a motion to throw out the Speaker backfired.

The Ugandan national, who took over the position in June 2012 as the first female Speaker, has been at loggerheads with a number of Eala members and stands accused of incompetence, poor leadership, dictatorship and playing favourites.

Ms Zziwa eventually allowed the motion to be tabled after lengthy consultations with the EAC Lawyer Wilbert Kaahwa and the Clerk to the Assembly Kenneth Madete.

Ugandan Eala member Suzan Nakawuki told media; “The first reason for the censure motion is money. The second is money. And the third is money.”

According to Ms Nakawuki, those calling for the removal of Ms Zziwa were furious with her after she turned down the 100% salary rise the MPs asked for at the end of last year.

Eala members earn $5,000 net salary per month plus an allowance of $400 a day when attending sessions.

{{US Ambassador Samantha Power said on Friday that she will not just commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide but will also spotlight ethnic killings in Central African Republic and the potential for violence in Burundi.}}

Power, a strong human rights advocate, is leading the US delegation to the commemoration, starting on Sunday evening, of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994.

More than a million minority Tutsis were killed by Hutu extremists in the 100-day genocide.

“We’re trying to ensure that our vigil for those killed in Rwanda is also a commitment to remain vigilant and engaged as the potential for atrocities emerges elsewhere,” she told reporters.

Power said remembering Rwanda isn’t enough. The international community must act “whenever, wherever and however we can to prevent similar atrocities from happening elsewhere,” she said.

“In the world today, we’re seeing far too many victims of ethnic and religiously motivated violence and hate,” Power said.

{{Sectarian killings}}

The best example today is in the Central African Republic which has been wracked by sectarian killings, “and there’s also the great potential for people in Burundi to become victims in the near future,” Power said.

From Rwanda, Power said she will visit Burundi on Tuesday where there are “very worrying signs of ethnic exclusion and oppression emerging”.

President Pierre Nkurunziza, who is seeking a third term despite a constitutional limit of two terms, has been cracking down on the opposition and the media.

“The Burundian president has taken a set of moves internally that we’re very worried about,” Power said. “We’re very concerned that some of the political steps that he’s taking really jeopardise much of what Burundi has built since it endured its own spate of mass killings 20 years ago, then again more recently.”

On Wednesday, Power will head to the Central African Republic, her second trip in less than four months.

The country has been in chaos since a March 2013 coup, and the violence has been splitting the country into Muslim and Christian areas.

{{Dealing with atrocities}}

She said the 20 years since the Rwanda genocide has changed the way the international community deals with atrocities.

In Rwanda, the international community pulled out UN peacekeepers and there was very little high-level engagement with Rwandan authorities who were perpetrating the genocide, Power said.

By contrast, in the Central African Republic there have been visits by many leaders, and the deployment of French and African Union forces with the United States helping to fly in troops and supply equipment, she said.

“The tragedy is that people are still being targeted on the basis of their identity,” in Central African Republic as well as South Sudan, she said.

Power said the international community “can’t wave a magic wand” and prevent identity-motivated killings, “but what we can do is explore the whole host of diplomatic, economic and military tools and put as many of them as appropriate in play far more quickly than we could in the past”.

– AP