Are Army MPs still relevant today?

PARLIAMENT- The fact that four out of the 10 Army MPs have not uttered a word in the House in the last two years, raises questions over their relevance in a multi-party dispensation.

Gen Elly Tumwine, who has represented the UPDF since 1996, ranks as the star performer in a legion of silent army representatives the government insists are its “listening posts, eyes and ears in the House.”

A Daily Monitor study of the Hansard, the official record that keeps track of all members’ contributions in the House, shows that Generals Aronda Nyakairima, Katumba Wamala, David Sejusa and Jim Owoyesigire have not spoken on the floor of Parliament in the last two parliamentary sessions.

The study focused on the first and second sessions of the 9th Parliament which ran from May 2011 to May 2013. During that period, budgets, motions, questions for oral answers, petitions and Bills were discussed and passed, without any input from the UPDF.

Opposition politicians, however, fault these Generals for often rushing to the House to vote in favour of government positions when controversial decisions are being forced through, with the most recent being the passing of the controversial Public Order and Management Bill in August.

The sole exception to this narrative was the 2005 abstention of Col Fred Bogere, then Army MP, from a contentious vote that amended the Constitution to remove presidential term limits. He was castigated by the Army leadership and has since been frozen out of the UPDF ranks and put on katebe, a catchword for no formal deployment.

Special interest group
Army MPs have been in Parliament since the Constitution making process in the Constituent Assembly (CA) session in 1994, as one of the five special interest groups, with Uganda being the only country in the East African region to have military representation in the House. The Defence Forces Council, the top decision making organ of the UPDF, votes for them.

To justify their presence, Gen Tumwine, who chairs the UPDF Caucus in Parliament, says politicians alone cannot be trusted with the long-term stability of a country because they are interested in “short term opportunism” and need the watchful eye of the military.

“There has been anarchy and chaos in countries where politics have been left to only the politicians who have no stake in the history and future of the country. As long as we want stability, the UPDF must be in Parliament to be the guarantor,” Gen Tumwine said, emphasizing that the harmony between the Army and civilians vindicates military representation in Parliament.

Asked why Army MPs rarely contribute to debate, he responded that UPDF positions can be communicated by one officer.

But the peripheral role UPDF MPs play has cast a shadow on their presence in the House, handing cannon fodder to opposition politicians who, in the run-up to the 2011 polls, tabled electoral reforms demanding that Army MPs be done away with. The status of special interest groups is reviewed every 10 years.

Dr Frederick Golooba-Mutebi, a political researcher, says President Museveni wants the army in Parliament to boost the “numbers” of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).

“The UPDF is a child of the NRM and the bonds between these institutions cannot be wished away by anyone. President Museveni has overwhelming control over the UPDF and the NRM. The army should have been out of Parliament,” Dr Golooba-Mutebi said.

Dr Mohammed Kulumba, a political scientist at Makerere University, agrees that the history between the UPDF and the NRM means Army MPs have to be in Parliament to safeguard interests of the military.

“All the other institutions like the Judiciary are just symbolic and are there just to create a semblance of democratic governance but otherwise we have a military government,” Dr Kulumba said.

Col Phinehas Katirima, a fourth-term Army MP, echoes assertions that the Army’s representation in Parliament is tied to the post-independence instabilities that wrecked the country.

“You need to know that we have come from a state of turmoil and we are currently a Third World backward country and we want to be a First World country in a place of affluence and prosperity. And to get there, the UPDF must be there to play the vanguard force of protecting Ugandans as they make the transition,” Col Katirima said.

Asked why he rarely speaks during plenary, Col Katirima responded that the army only comes in “at a critical time to vote objectively on matters that have the ability to make or break the State”.
“When we are in Parliament, we are there for the interests of the people and not for drama, theatrics, the press and being clapped for even when we are doing nothing,” he said.

Repetitive
Maj Sarah Mpabwa, who, according to the Hansard, rarely speaks during plenary insists she has invested more energy in the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), arguing that it would be repetitive to contribute on the floor to decisions that are already handled at committee level.
“If I have done my work in the committee, I do not believe in speaking [during plenary] just to agree with the previous speaker,” Maj Mpabwa said.

“The speaking has to be quantified and qualified to see whether there is value addition. I make my contribution in my own way and I believe Parliament is not a public relations thing. It is not showbiz.”

Maj Gen Julius Oketta, who doubles as the disaster and relief coordinator at the Office of the Prime Minister, said “disaster operations” eat into his time for Parliament, contending that the Army MPs concentrate on “development issues” and not the “politics” that pit government against the opposition.

Ugandans, Maj Oketta said, decided that the Army should be subjected to civilian control and that scrapping Army MPs should be only after Ugandans have pronounced themselves.

“During the CA, the people of Uganda decided that they wanted the Army under civilian control and that would be through being elected to Parliament. Civilians must learn how the army works and vice versa,” Maj Oketta said.
Article 208(2) of the Constitution says the UPDF shall be non-partisan, national ... professional, disciplined, productive and subordinate to the civilian authority.

Though the House register could not be readily established to track daily attendance, Capt Sarah Lakot, the UPDF whip, admitted that Army MPs could be habitual absentees because they are kept busy by other assignments.

As the opposition prepares to bring a new set of electoral reforms for debate in Parliament, it remains to be seen whether this will change the fate and future of Army representation in Parliament.

PAST ARMY MPS

Constituent Assembly (1994-95)
Kizza Besigye
Kibirango Gyagenda
Noble Mayombo
Mugisha Muntu
Jimmy Muhwezi Katugugu
Jeje Odongo
Odonga Amaza
Sserwanga Lwanga
David Tinyefuza aka Sejusa
Aronda Nyakairima

1996 – 2001
Phinehas Katirima
Katumba Wamala
Ivan Koreta
Noble Mayombo
Mugisha Muntu
Annette Nkalubo
Tony Otoa
Fred Tolit
Henry Tumukunde
Elly Tumwine

2001 – 2006
Aronda Nyakairima
Fred Bogere (abstained from voting on term limits, consequently was sent on ‘katebe’)
Andrew Gutti (replaced Brig Tumukunde who had criticised the President on radio and questioned the third-term project)
Phinehas Katirima Manoni
Elly Kayanja
Noble Mayombo
Jeje Odongo
Francis Ben Okello (replaced Caleb Akandwanaho when he resigned in 2003)
David Tinyefuza
Elly Tumwine

2006 – 2011
Aronda Nyakairima
Phinehas Katirima Manoni
Ramadhan Kyamulesire
Grace Kyomugisha Kashaija Ikiriza
James Makumbi
Sarah Patience Mpabwa
Francis Ben Okello
Julius Facki Oketta (replaced Mayombo when he went to Defence as PS)
David Tinyefuza
Tumwine Elly

2011-2016
Charles Angina
Aronda Nyakairima
Phinehas Katirima Manoni
Katumba Wamala
Susan Lakot
Sarah Patience Mpabwa
Julius Facki Oketta
Jim Owoyesigire
David Sejusa aka Tinyefuza
Elly Tumwine