The Mityana South Member of Parliament Richard Lumu has said his private member’s bill that seeks to amend the Administration of Parliament Act is not after the current leader of the opposition Joel Ssenyonyi. Speaking to journalists in Kampala, Lumu said ever since he was granted leave of parliament last week to introduce the bill, he has been subjected to unwarranted attacks, particularly from the National Unity Platform, the current holder of the office of the leader of the opposition.
While parliament sat in Gulu last week, Lumu was given the leave of parliament to present his bill that among others seeks to allow for the election of the leader of the opposition in parliament. Currently, all leadership positions that go to the largest opposition party in parliament are filled by party leaders. Lumu proposes that the party in the opposition with the biggest number of MPs should present at least three names from which MPs from that party should elect their leader.
The proposal that is yet to be presented to parliament also wants the opposition chief whip to be elected by all members of the opposition in parliament. The proposal also seeks to have a deputy speaker elected from the opposition, have all shadow ministers vetted by the entire opposition caucus, have another position of commissioner for other parties on the opposition not coming from the majority opposition party, have independent MPs have their whip, allow for a procedure of removing the leader of opposition and members of the shadow cabinet, reduce from two thirds to 100 MPs required to censure the speaker, deputy speaker and the commissioners.
The proposal also calls for the amendment of the constitution to allow for presidential contenders who get 100,000 votes to become MP. However, of all these proposals the one suggesting to change the way the leader of opposition is voted appointed is the one raising public debate. NUP members led by their president last week accused Lumu of bringing the proposal in bad faith.
They said he was trying to hand Museveni the opportunity to choose the leader of the opposition. In his response today, Lumu said he has nothing against Ssenyonyi or the NUP but rather he aims to entrench democracy.
He added, “When I moved my Bill, I heard people this side of Kampala who were attacking me before even understanding what I had to say. Don’t rush to speak because you can speak of something you don’t know and when they introduce it, you say it is good but when you have already presented it as a bad thing. This motion is a very good motion, this Bill is a very good thing because it isn’t only talking about the Leader of Opposition, it is talking about election of Opposition Chief Whip.”
Lumu added that if anybody thinks that his proposals are not sound, they should come up with alternatives other than being abusive.
“I don’t know why someone would be scared of elections. I am actually scared that the people who actually want to promote democracy fear elections. We are in Opposition and we are preparing to go for elections if in case we have done some action for us to go there. So people shouldn’t fear elections. We shall be in power in 2026, so since we shall be in power in 2026, so, this Bill will work on the people who will be in Opposition. So are people saying we are going to be permanently in the Opposition? Are they happy with the position?” argued Lumu.
Lumu also wondered why the opposition that claims to be striving for democracy is fearful of the election.
