Youth demand term limits for women MPs

By Joyce Namutebi                            

Pressure is mounting on women Members of Parliament serving on the affirmative action ticket as certain sections of society are proposing that term limits be imposed on them in a bid to give opportunity to more women to come into the House.

Others are proposing that their numbers in Parliament be greatly reduced in order to have an affordable lean Parliament.

The latest group to propose term limits for women MPs representing districts is the Interparty Youth Platform (IYOP), which is composed of youth from NRM, Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) and Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), Conservative Party, Democratic Party, Justice Forum and the People’s Progressive Party.

In their submission to the legal and parliamentary affairs committee on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2015 on Tuesday, IYOP proposed that the women MPs should serve for only two consecutive terms.

“This shall increase opportunities for more women, especially female youth politicians in redressing the historical injustices and political empowerment challenges they face as women,” the chairperson IYOP, Gerald Blacks Siranda said.

Women MPs on the committee did not, however, welcome the proposal. They asked the youth whether they had considered a proposal to have each district represented by one man and one woman.

They also enumerated the challenges and injustices that women still face, including being intimidated by men.

The youth said that one or two terms should be sufficient time for a woman MP to build her capacity to compete for other elective positions and pave way for young women to participate in the democratic process.

They also proposed the same term for women councilors at all levels.

Siranda observed that the overstay by some women MPs contradicts the purpose of women’s emancipation as envisaged by the framers of the current constitution.

Appearing before the same committee, Uganda Law Society also proposed amendment to Article 78(1)(b) of the Constitution on women representation to say that the number be reduced to one per region.

“The large number of Parliamentarians is an expensive burden to the taxpayers and does not guarantee effective representation of the people of Uganda. In addition, women representatives do not necessarily address women’s needs. Government should continue to ensure that injustices against women are addressed through functional policies and institutions and not necessarily through a Member of Parliament,” ULS said.

Under the constitution, Women shall have the right to equal treatment with men and that right shall include equal opportunities in political, economic and social activities and without prejudice to article 32 of this Constitution, women shall have the right to affirmative action for the purpose of redressing the imbalances created by history, tradition or custom.

IYOP also opposed Government amendment on independents saying it is not practical for independent youth to raise the 1,000 signatures from the electoral college.

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