Why Uganda needs an opposition speaker
Wamoto Nabendeh
Parliament is supposed to be a good reflection of the population (society) and must have the teeth
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with which to bite the corrupt.
This however, needs an upright, uncompromised and disciplined speaker.
The speaker and her deputy cannot lay a credit claim on the 10th Parliament in general and the embarrassing, chaotic age limit debate in particular.
For anyone to boast that it was one of the great outputs of parliament is quite a new and abstract
concept.
While the administration of Parliament Act (2007) was introduced to strengthen the institution, Parliament has been eroded and safely in the pockets of the executive (coercive instruments) washing away the late Wapakhabulo’s indelible record set in mid nineties.
Uganda cannot get to the next chapter of growth if she keeps re-reading the past one(chapter).When citizens see the current speaker and deputy’s temperatures soaring high, the conclusion is that there is crisis of
confidence and the whole situation appears that Parliament and the public(owners) inhabited two different universes resulting to lost faith. in the institution.
The current indiscipline of political parties has skewed power in favour of the ruling party monopoly and the executive hence counter-productive.
Party caucuses have increasingly taken over as the primary fora for decision making instead of parliament.
By delaying too long and acting little on crucial motions, Parliament has lost public confidence and sacrificed whatever right it thought it had to streamline the system.
May the country this time round give opportunity to opposition speaker.
