Revisit Parliament

Jul 11, 2004

THE Cabinet has completed the White Paper on the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) report. The White Paper contains proposals that will represent government position when Parliament starts debating the Constitution Amendment Bill.

THE Cabinet has completed the White Paper on the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) report. The White Paper contains proposals that will represent government position when Parliament starts debating the Constitution Amendment Bill.

Several Cabinet proposals are progressive and should be embraced by MPs and all Ugandans.

For example, Cabinet endorsed CRC proposal to allow dual citizenship. This will enable Ugandans who acquire citizenship abroad to have a feeling of belonging.

Previously, such Ugandans were strangers in their own motherland and lacked confidence whenever they returned to the “roots”. Now they will be encouraged to invest back home once they know their children would not be disowned by their grandfathers.

However, Cabinet should revisit its decisions on the size and composition of Parliament. Cabinet rejected CRC’s proposal that the size of Parliament be reduced from 305 MPs to 120. If the rationale is to ensure proper representation of the population, then why drop MPs for workers and youth?

This rationale would make more sense if more sections of the population such as teachers, clergy, police etc were going to be represented. A big Parliament leads to high public administration costs. This was one of the problems donors saw in the national budget recently.

Army representation in Parliament should also be revisited. The army has been part of the problem and solution in Uganda’s turbulent past. In a democratic society the army is supposed to take orders from civilians (politicians). How then can soldiers respect politicians when everyday they are rubbing shoulders in Parliament or pointing fingers at one another during debate in the House?

The situation is more complicated under the multiparty system because the army is supposed to be non-partisan.

What side will Army MPs support, government or opposition?

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