MPs to pass crucial poll laws by March

Parliament has set itself an ambitious target to pass all critical legal reforms by March 15, ahead of next year’s elections.
Speaker Edward Ssekandi and the chairperson of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee, Mr Stephen Tashobya, said yesterday that the House would fast-track debate on the proposed amendments amidst concerns about delays to fix the loopholes in the electoral and political processes.

Top Bills
Top of the agenda are five electoral Bills presented to Parliament by the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Prof Khidu Makubuya, who is also Attorney General, last December.

Mr Tashobya, also MP for Kajara, told journalists at Parliament yesterday that the committee shall debate the Presidential Elections Amendment Bill 2009, Electoral Commission Amendment Bill 2009, the Political Parties and Organisations Amendment Bill 2009 and the Parliamentary Elections Amendment Bill 2009 and make a report to Parliament by the end of this month.

“From Tuesday next week we are going to conduct public hearings and we shall begin with the representatives of political parties,” Mr Tashobya said. “The Speaker said the Bills should be passed into law latest March 15.”

Overdue legislation
The Electoral Commission (EC) had earlier asked for the necessary amendments to be passed at least a year before the next election, or by February 26.
In 2007, the EC submitted to government a number of laws it wanted amended in line with the 2006 Supreme Court ruling which found that the election held that year was not conducted in accordance with the law and made several suggestions for the conduct of free and fair elections.

Mr Tashobya said yesterday that the move to fast-track the process was meant to ensure that Parliament is not “the cause of all the excuses at the end of the electoral process”.

Opposition parties under the Inter Party Cooperation also submitted to the Speaker suggestions on laws they want amended to ensure a smooth electoral process.

But Mr Ssekandi on Tuesday blocked a move by the shadow Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister to present alternative Bills.
The opposition says that the Bills presented by the government do not address some of the key elements needed for a level ground, a key precursor to a free-and-fair election.

For example, the opposition wants the role of security forces limited during elections. It also wants the Electoral Commission disbanded and reconstituted with wider consultation, including from within opposition ranks.

Opposition’s objections
The opposition also wants Army MPs, who are appointed, to lose their seats in Parliament, arguing that a national army has no business in a partisan parliament.

The 10 army MPs are nominated by the institution but toe the ruling NRM party line during voting, the opposition says. These concerns, which are not addressed in the Bills before Parliament, are likely to generate animated and possibly drawn-out debate in the House but Mr Tashobya said yesterday that MPs would have to do everything possible, including burning the midnight oil, in order to finish the exercise in time.

“If necessary we shall be meeting on weekends; we have agreed with the Speaker that we must fast-track these Bills,” Mr Tashobya said.
The amendments are a crucial step towards resolving concerns about the country’s readiness and willingness to hold free and fair elections in 2011.