Gulu, (UG):- Parliament has granted leave to Mityana South MP Richard Lumu to introduce a Private Member’s Bill to provide for the election of Leader of the Opposition.
The LoP, according to the proposed bill will be elected by members of the opposition in Parliament and not a reserved slot by the opposition party with majority seats in parliament.
In July 2005, Uganda transitioned from the Movement political system to a multiparty political system through a national referendum.
The adoption of the multi-party system of governance saw the amendment of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda to create the office of Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and subsequently, in 2006, the amendment of the Administration of Parliament Act, Cap. 272 to provide for the office of Leader of the Opposition.
According to Hon Lumu, whereas section eight of the Administration of Parliament Act requires the Leader of Opposition in Parliament to be determined through an elective process, currently a Leader of the Opposition is merely designated by the party with the highest numerical strength among the opposition parties in Parliament and is simply imposed on the members of the opposition in Parliament without their will and consent.
The Mityana South MP said “suffice to note is that there are various political parties in opposition with representation in Parliament, including the Democratic Party, Forum for Democratic Change, Uganda People’s Congress, Justice Forum, and People’s Progressive Party, and the Leader of the Opposition and the Chief Opposition Whip superintend all members of the opposition in Parliament.”
However, he contends that the current manner of election of Leader of the Opposition in Parliament has not only led to the suppression of the views of other opposition political parties in Parliament but also made it impossible.
“There is a need to amend the Administration of Parliament Act, Cap. 272 to allow the participation of all members of the opposition in Parliament in the election of a Leader of the Opposition and Chief Opposition Whip in Parliament in order to achieve effective representation,” Hon Lumu said.
The DP legislator also wondered why the Catholics can vote for the Pope, Ugandans vote for a President, and MPs elect a Speaker, while the Leader of the Opposition and Chief Opposition Whip are exempted from the same democratic principles he says they claim to profess to.
Speaker Anitah Among ruled in favour of Lumu, asking the disgruntled MPs to reject Lumu’s bill on a second reading if they so wished.
“Much as we are sitting in Gulu, this is a normal sitting. And as I said, let us not act in anticipation; there is no fight. The law isn’t made for one person, today I may be the leader of the opposition, and tomorrow another person will be the leader, but I don’t see any fight in this thing, and you can reject it when it comes to the second reading” Among said.
“We shouldn’t deny a member his right, which is enshrined in the constitution.”
NUP speaks out
The leading opposition party in parliament, the National Unity Platform (NUP) Thursday trashed the move by David Lumu (MP Mityana South) to have parliament elect the leader of opposition.
The current LoP, Hon Joel Ssenyonyi (Nakawa West) while addressing a congregation at the NUP headquarters said that those pushing to have LOP elected by parliament are being used by Speaker Anita Among and the ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM).
“Some of our colleagues clearly being used by the speaker and NRM are moving a motion saying they want the leader of the opposition to be elected by the entire opposition in parliament. We have never been afraid of any democratic process. This (Lumu’s bill) is clearly because of the pressure that as a team we have been exerting,” Ssenyonyi said.
The NUP spokesperson added that those in the ruling party should be cautious because they may become the leaders of the opposition when the NUP takes over power from President Museveni.
“They imagine we are going to have opposition forever; no, we are not. We want you (NRM) to take power, so you should not be greedy. We are not going to stop holding government accountable, speaking against corruption and bad governance,” he added.
NUP president Robert Kyagulanyi, alias Bobi Wine, alleged that President Museveni wants to be elected the leader of the opposition because he wants to be in charge of parliament. He said Museveni wants to be in charge of the opposition because NUP has become problematic to him.
“Museveni wants to be the one voting the leader of the opposition. It has never been like that before because Uganda has never had an opposition like this one. Museveni has been buying off the past opposition leaders, but he cannot buy us off because when we joined politics we had already seen money,” Kyagulanyi said.
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