President signs Elections Bills into law

By Vision Reporter

President Yoweri Museveni has signed Elections Bills passed by Parliament on Tuesday into law, the Clerk to Parliament, Jane Kibirige, has confirmed.

The three Bills signed into law effective October 1, 2015 are: The Presidential Elections (Amendment Bill) Parliamentary Elections (Amendments Bill) and Electoral Commission (Amendment Bill 2015).

A Government proposal to increase the facilitation of presidential candidates from sh20m to sh50m was on Tuesday unanimously rejected by Parliament yesterday after a heated debate.

This means the six presidential aspirants if nominated to run for the presidency will have to acquire campaign funds from other sources.

But the proposal to raise nomination fees for presidential candidates from sh8m to sh20m was approved although opposition leaders had earlier argued that the fee was too high and likely to lock out potential candidates.  

The decision was taken during debate on the new electoral Bills presented to Parliament last week. The Bills are the Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill, 2015, Parliamentary Elections and the Electoral Commission (Amendment) Bills, 2015.

During the plenary session chaired by deputy speaker Jacob Oulanyah, MPs upheld a proposal by Aruu County MP Odonga Otto that presidential candidates should not be given any money by the Electoral Commission as facilitation.

"Let us not give them any coin because if we do, we shall be risking the candidates turning presidential aspiration into a money-making venture," he argued.  In the previous elections, candidates were given sh20m and four-wheel drive vehicles which has now been rejected by MPs.  

Otto's proposal was supported by Budadiri West MP, Nandala Mafabi, while Kabula County MP James Kakooza said that presidential candidates should be funded.