Government Given Ultimatum to Table Electoral Reforms
By Nassiwa Hanifah Samula
Parliament has given government 10 days to present the electoral reforms or else give chance to the shadow Attorney General Ndorwa east MP Nuwagaba Wilfred to bring a motion to allow him move a private members bill as far as electoral and constitutional reforms are concerned .
He further asked parliament to give him by the end of this month to fully present the electoral and constitutional reforms.
Speaker Oulanya therefore guided parliament that the Attorney General be given 10 days to bring the amendments and if there are gaps in the amendments, shadow Attorney General Nuwagaba Wilfred can be given chance to present his too. It should be noted that the observers of the 2016 general elections noticed that there was minimal democracy during the elections.
This followed a statement by the Attorney General William Byaruhanga that he presented to parliament regarding the preparedness by government to bring the electoral reforms to parliament and he assured parliament that they have already drafted the amendments and are yet to present them to cabinet for approval and these will be brought to parliament at the end of this month. However the MPs from the opposition side have expressed their dissatisfaction with government laziness regarding the electoral reforms since they were supposed to be brought on the 30th of April as formerly directed by right honorable speaker Kadaga. Ndorwa east MP Nuwagaba Wilfred insists that the Artoney General has not talked about the issues which are the most important aspects of the amendments like re-instating of presidential term limits, constituting an electrical commission, constitution of parliament itself among others and he believes these will be skipped when the amendments come to parliament.
In response to the MP’s pleas the Attorney General has told parliament that all the issues are catered for in the amendments and that a constitutional review commission has already been constituted and yet to start working between June and July this year.