Parliament has granted, Democratic Party’s Richard Lumu (Mityana South), leave to present a Private Member’s Bill, where he is seeking to have all Opposition MPs participate in the election of their Leader of Opposition and Chief Opposition Whip, as opposed to having such individuals imposed on them by the main Opposition Party in Parliament.
Lumu wondered why the Catholics can vote the Pope, Ugandans Vote for a President, and MPs elects a Speaker, while the Leader of Opposition and Chief Opposition Whip are exempted from the same democratic principles he says they claim to profess to.
“Election is the epitome of democracy, I am a Catholic, there is an election of the Pope, the highest and respected leader in the world, if there is an election there, there must be an election here. We are in the Opposition, we were elected and we also elected you (Speaker), the very reason why you are seated in that seat. We also elect the President therefore, there is no reason why when we come to Parliament as the Opposition, we don’t elect our leader who is the Leader of Opposition,” argued Lumu.
He added, “is important that the pillar of democracy, which is election should actually be done by us the Opposition, who are actually bout to take power. We need an election, clear, in the Opposition.”
Section 8 of the Administration of the Parliament Act Cap272 provides for the election of the Leader of Opposition by the Party in Opposition having the greatest numerical strength in Parliament.
Lumu says that the Rules also say that other parties should be consulted, however, his Party has never been consulted whenever there is a new or the other Leader of Opposition.
However, Okin Ojara (Chwa West) disagreed with Lumu’s argument saying the status quo hasn’t posed any challenges noting,
“The current arrangement in Parliament is working appropriately because when you look at the entire structure of Parliament, we haven’t had a situation in Uganda where the Ruling Government elects their Party Chief Whips, where we have the Prime Ministers being elected, so this motion that he is trying to present is actually very dangerous,” he said.
Denis Oneka (Kitgum Municipality) wondered why the Northern Regional Sitting should be used as a platform to settle personal vendetta amongst Opposition MPs.
“This is a special regional sitting and the first of its kind and the regional sitting begun from Northern Region and as such, I would really request that it remains a special sitting for the Northern Region. I see vividly, personal fights being embed in a peaceful sitting, I would like us to proceed in the same spirit of the special sitting. This motion can be raised when we are back at Parliament, not at Regional level. Is it really procedurally right to proceed in this manner for us to bring personal vendetta in a regional sitting,” he said.
