Kampala, November 11—A bill hurriedly tabled in Parliament by the Mityana South legislator, Richard Lumu, to subject the Leader of Opposition in Parliament to an election, has suffered another blow as government through its Attorney General rejected the proposal saying that the bill undermines the power of free will given to every citizen by the constitution and the state exercise for regular free and fair elections.
The proposal which the legislator hurriedly tabled during the regional Parliamentary plenary session in Gulu city on August 29, 2024 seemingly targeting the current leader of opposition seeks to alter the mode of selection of LOP and other positions reserved for the opposition in Parliament.
However, in a written statement to the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee dated November 11, 2024, the Deputy Attorney General, Jackson Kafuuzi, contended that allowing other opposition parties to elect LOP is a contradiction of the mandate given by the people for the Leader of Opposition in Parliament to be elected from another party.
“We observe that the selection of the Leader of Opposition in Parliament is determined by the internal procedures of the opposition party, which are more of a policy nature than a legal nature,” he said.
He further said that through exercising this mandate, the people elect their Members of Parliament, who are ranked with the largest party being the National Resistance Movement (NRM) party and the second party being the party with the greatest numerical strength in opposition to the government in Parliament, drawn from the will of the people through free and fair elections.
Kafuuzi criticized government interference in the mandate of the party in opposition, noting that the government possesses the greatest numerical strength in Parliament, therefore disregarding the freedom to a free and fair election.
