MP Niwagaba granted leave to draft bill on electoral reforms
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah, has paved way for the Ndorwa East legislator Wilfred Niwagaba to take leave of Parliament and draft a private members bill that seeks to introduce electoral reforms.
Oulanyah said blocking Niwagaba from taking leave of Parliament as proposed by the Deputy Attorney General Mwesigwa Rukutana would be a violation of article 93 of the Constitution and rule 123 of the rules of procedure of parliament.
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Rukutana had asked the deputy speaker to block the move arguing that government was in the process of setting up a constitutional review commission to handle the same matter.
But Oulanyah argued that blocking Niwagaba from asking for leave of parliament will be unfair since there is already a precedent set by Igara West legislator Raphael Magyezi who was granted leave to enact a private members bill to have amendments in the constitution.
The deputy speaker said the establishment of the constitutional Review commission cannot in any way bar Niwagaba from tabling his proposals.
Oulanyah also quashed the need to have a certificate of financial implication at the stage of asking leave of parliament.
Niwagaba said the majority of the electoral proposals from the opposition will be contained in his private members bill.
Some of the proposals in his bill include; regulating donations among candidates during the time for campaigns, defining the status of civil servants in campaigns, creating a time frame for the by-elections of the new elective areas and improving the handling of election petitions for MPs.
