By Our Reporter
NATIONAL/POLITICS
The Buganda Kingdom Prime Minister, Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga has given his opinion on MP Lumu’s move to have the Leader of Parliament elected by opposition MPs other than being appointed by the Party President with the biggest number of MPs.
Parliament granted the Mityana County South MP, Hon. Richard Lumu, to introduce a Private Member’s Bill entitled, “The Administration of Parliament Amendment Bill, 2024”
The Bill among others, seeks to revise the selection of the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Parliament.
The LoP, who is accorded the status of a cabinet minister, is elected by the party in opposition to the Government having the greatest numerical strength in Parliament according to the Administration of Parliament Act.
During the plenary sitting on Thursday, 29 August 2024 at the Kaunda Grounds in Gulu City, Lumu stated that the manner of election of the LoP as it stands, excludes other opposition political parties represented in Parliament and yet the LoP superintends over all of them and even selects the shadow cabinet from among them.
Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga departs from Lumu’s reasoning saying the LoP should instead be the Presidential Candidate that comes second in General elections. This he says, he told Nathan Nandala while still LoP in 2013.
“When I visited Parliament in 2013 during the Ettoffaali drive and met then Leader of Opposition (LOP), Nathan Nandala Mafabi, I suggested that the runner up in the presidential elections should automatically become LOP and Member of Parliament,” says Mayiga.
Katikkiro Mayiga argues that someone who gets the second highest number of votes should be the voice of those who didn’t elect the winning candidate, without going through someone else, with whom they may not have a smooth working relationship as it has happened many times.
“Now my MP knows my stand, if an amendment to the law is tabled in Parliament,” concludes Mayiga.
