Legislators trapped in their political parties
Jun 07, 2008
MARACHA MP Alex Onzima’s recent announcement that he was willing to support and campaign for President Yoweri Museveni in the 2011 was not a new phenomenon. It was just another chapter in his poorly maintained love affair with the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
By Cyprian Musoke
MARACHA MP Alex Onzima’s recent announcement that he was willing to support and campaign for President Yoweri Museveni in the 2011 was not a new phenomenon. It was just another chapter in his poorly maintained love affair with the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Onzima’s courtship with the NRM started way back during the debate to scrap term limits for a president.
Although he sided with the opposition in his arguments against removal of the term limits, on the day of voting many MPs came dressed in their party colours and Onzima was dressed in a kitengi in the official NRM party colour (yellow) instead of FDC’s blue.
But before that, he had been cited in Parliament dressed in a yellow Movement T-shirt, labelled “Movement, Museveni and meâ€, which made his fellow Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) uncomfortable.
They were unsure what to make of his loyalty to their party, in which he is vice-chairperson in charge of the north.
In his brief preamble before voting on the term limits, he said although he was dressed in the ‘very beautiful’ Movement colours, he was constrained from voting for the removal of term limits for the sake of posterity.
Ever since then, his fellow FDC members have watched him with a keen eye.
At one point, Onzima told President Yoweri Museveni that should he play his political cards cunningly and grant them the district status, then he (Onzima) would throw all his support behind him.
Museveni granted their wish, but it has not yet taken off due to wrangles over where the headquarters of the Maracha-Terego district should be.
During Museveni’s visit to the area last month, Onzima gave him a brand new phone, a bible, a calf, spears, bows and arrows. He described Museveni, the NRM chief, as a renowned and sharp political analyst.
It, therefore, is hard to refute the conclusion that Onzima has for long been Museveni’s secret admirer. According to Onzima, Museveni will take advantage of FDC’s weakness to strengthen his party in Maracha-Terego district.
He said he was highlighting the issues that could be exploited by the Government to promote the NRM in West Nile.
Louis Opange
Perhaps another MP who is still seated on the opposition side but teetering on the brink of crossing the floor is Pallisa County MP Loius Opange.
After badly-conducted NRM primaries, Opange decided to stand as an independent, and due to his popularity, won the elections. But before this, he had been one of the front-running NRM supporters.
After elections, there were attempts to woo him to sit on the NRM side and to sign a memorandum of understanding to work with the NRM, but he hesitated on grounds that the Movement should first meet some conditions he would put to them. Although it is not clear what his conditions were, Opange still remains an NRM supporter on the opposition side, and only 2011 will reveal his true colours, going by which ticket he runs on.
Memorandum of understanding with independents
The Government has not sat back, having clearly read the signals.
To attract those sitting on the fence, last year the Government signed a memorandum of understanding with Movement-leaning independent candidates, to have them support government proposals and motions on the floor of the House.
A majority of these had fallen out with their party (NRM), when they were rigged out of the poorly-conducted primaries, prompting them to stand as independents.
But because of their strength and popularity as individuals, they managed to beat the official party candidates. The NRM could not afford to do without the independents, whose numbers mattered in swaying the vote on the floor.
This group, if they had their way, would cross over to the Movement, if it were not for the stringent law governing floor crossing. So, like Onzima, they are caught in the dilemma of having already committed themselves, until the 2011 elections.
Some of these are, Iddi Lubyaayi Kisiki, Rebecca Nalwanga, Erasmus Magulumaali, Johnson Malinga, Norman Muwulize, Mariam Nalubega, Grace Namara, Vincent Nyanzi, Peter Nyombi (whom the NRM fronted to chair the legal and parliamentary affairs committee), Sammay Ogwel Loote, William Oketcho (whom the NRM fronted to chair the budget committee), Charles Olweny, Oleeru Huda, Emily Otekat, Piro Santos, Isaac Ssejjoba and Sanjay Tanna.
Most recently, five Langi MPs and three district chairpersons, signed a pact with the FDC, after being thrown out of their party, the Uganda Peoples Congress.
FDC officials Prof. Ogenga Latigo and Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu oversaw the signing of the memorandum of understanding.
The independent MPs, who agreed to work closely with the FDC and defect to it in 2011, are Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman), Ben Wacha (Oyam North), Rebecca Otengo (Lira Woman), Charles Angiro Gutomoi (Erute North) and B’Leo Ojok (Kioga). The chairpersons are Franco Ojur (Lira), Okello-Okello (Dokolo) and Alfred Adoli Ogwok (Amolatar).
Still, UPC has a big number of independent MPs out of the 37 currently in the eighth parliament, many having fallen out with the party because they felt they could not stay at the time Miria Obote took charge.
Other high level defectors from UPC are Aggrey Awori and Omara Atubo, who have since signed memoranda of understanding with the ruling NRM.
Atubo was rewarded with a ministerial job, taking charge of the lands, housing and urban development portfolio, while Awori is still out in the cold, having been once tipped for an ambassadorial job.
The other case that can be cited here is that of former Democratic Party member Maurice Kagimu Kiwanuka, who relinquished his DP card for that of the NRM, and was appointed state minister for economic monitoring.
What the Constitution says
Article 83 (g) of the Constitution says, inter alia: A person shall cease being a member of Parliament if that person leaves the political party for which he or she stood as a candidate for election to Parliament, to join another party or to remain in Parliament as an independent member;
(h) If having been elected to Parliament as an independent candidate, that person joins a political party.
(i) If that person is appointed a public officer.
What, therefore, remains apparent is that however much one would like to cross to another party, the rules of the game are such that you risk going for a by-election to face off with another candidate from the party you are deserting.
and the fact that you previously won on that party ticket tilts all the odds against you.
MARACHA MP Alex Onzima’s recent announcement that he was willing to support and campaign for President Yoweri Museveni in the 2011 was not a new phenomenon. It was just another chapter in his poorly maintained love affair with the National Resistance Movement (NRM).
Onzima’s courtship with the NRM started way back during the debate to scrap term limits for a president.
Although he sided with the opposition in his arguments against removal of the term limits, on the day of voting many MPs came dressed in their party colours and Onzima was dressed in a kitengi in the official NRM party colour (yellow) instead of FDC’s blue.
But before that, he had been cited in Parliament dressed in a yellow Movement T-shirt, labelled “Movement, Museveni and meâ€, which made his fellow Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) uncomfortable.
They were unsure what to make of his loyalty to their party, in which he is vice-chairperson in charge of the north.
In his brief preamble before voting on the term limits, he said although he was dressed in the ‘very beautiful’ Movement colours, he was constrained from voting for the removal of term limits for the sake of posterity.
Ever since then, his fellow FDC members have watched him with a keen eye.
At one point, Onzima told President Yoweri Museveni that should he play his political cards cunningly and grant them the district status, then he (Onzima) would throw all his support behind him.
Museveni granted their wish, but it has not yet taken off due to wrangles over where the headquarters of the Maracha-Terego district should be.
During Museveni’s visit to the area last month, Onzima gave him a brand new phone, a bible, a calf, spears, bows and arrows. He described Museveni, the NRM chief, as a renowned and sharp political analyst.
It, therefore, is hard to refute the conclusion that Onzima has for long been Museveni’s secret admirer. According to Onzima, Museveni will take advantage of FDC’s weakness to strengthen his party in Maracha-Terego district.
He said he was highlighting the issues that could be exploited by the Government to promote the NRM in West Nile.
Louis Opange
Perhaps another MP who is still seated on the opposition side but teetering on the brink of crossing the floor is Pallisa County MP Loius Opange.
After badly-conducted NRM primaries, Opange decided to stand as an independent, and due to his popularity, won the elections. But before this, he had been one of the front-running NRM supporters.
After elections, there were attempts to woo him to sit on the NRM side and to sign a memorandum of understanding to work with the NRM, but he hesitated on grounds that the Movement should first meet some conditions he would put to them. Although it is not clear what his conditions were, Opange still remains an NRM supporter on the opposition side, and only 2011 will reveal his true colours, going by which ticket he runs on.
Memorandum of understanding with independents
The Government has not sat back, having clearly read the signals.
To attract those sitting on the fence, last year the Government signed a memorandum of understanding with Movement-leaning independent candidates, to have them support government proposals and motions on the floor of the House.
A majority of these had fallen out with their party (NRM), when they were rigged out of the poorly-conducted primaries, prompting them to stand as independents.
But because of their strength and popularity as individuals, they managed to beat the official party candidates. The NRM could not afford to do without the independents, whose numbers mattered in swaying the vote on the floor.
This group, if they had their way, would cross over to the Movement, if it were not for the stringent law governing floor crossing. So, like Onzima, they are caught in the dilemma of having already committed themselves, until the 2011 elections.
Some of these are, Iddi Lubyaayi Kisiki, Rebecca Nalwanga, Erasmus Magulumaali, Johnson Malinga, Norman Muwulize, Mariam Nalubega, Grace Namara, Vincent Nyanzi, Peter Nyombi (whom the NRM fronted to chair the legal and parliamentary affairs committee), Sammay Ogwel Loote, William Oketcho (whom the NRM fronted to chair the budget committee), Charles Olweny, Oleeru Huda, Emily Otekat, Piro Santos, Isaac Ssejjoba and Sanjay Tanna.
Most recently, five Langi MPs and three district chairpersons, signed a pact with the FDC, after being thrown out of their party, the Uganda Peoples Congress.
FDC officials Prof. Ogenga Latigo and Maj. Gen. Mugisha Muntu oversaw the signing of the memorandum of understanding.
The independent MPs, who agreed to work closely with the FDC and defect to it in 2011, are Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman), Ben Wacha (Oyam North), Rebecca Otengo (Lira Woman), Charles Angiro Gutomoi (Erute North) and B’Leo Ojok (Kioga). The chairpersons are Franco Ojur (Lira), Okello-Okello (Dokolo) and Alfred Adoli Ogwok (Amolatar).
Still, UPC has a big number of independent MPs out of the 37 currently in the eighth parliament, many having fallen out with the party because they felt they could not stay at the time Miria Obote took charge.
Other high level defectors from UPC are Aggrey Awori and Omara Atubo, who have since signed memoranda of understanding with the ruling NRM.
Atubo was rewarded with a ministerial job, taking charge of the lands, housing and urban development portfolio, while Awori is still out in the cold, having been once tipped for an ambassadorial job.
The other case that can be cited here is that of former Democratic Party member Maurice Kagimu Kiwanuka, who relinquished his DP card for that of the NRM, and was appointed state minister for economic monitoring.
What the Constitution says
Article 83 (g) of the Constitution says, inter alia: A person shall cease being a member of Parliament if that person leaves the political party for which he or she stood as a candidate for election to Parliament, to join another party or to remain in Parliament as an independent member;
(h) If having been elected to Parliament as an independent candidate, that person joins a political party.
(i) If that person is appointed a public officer.
What, therefore, remains apparent is that however much one would like to cross to another party, the rules of the game are such that you risk going for a by-election to face off with another candidate from the party you are deserting.
and the fact that you previously won on that party ticket tilts all the odds against you.