Parliament elects new Speaker and Deputy: New era or more of the same

On a brief visit to Uganda at the end of 1999, I met Jacob Oulanyah at a law office he shared with Norbert Mao at Equatoria Hotel.

Jacob whom I later met a few times with his late wife Dorothy Abner Nangwale at the Luzira home of Winnie Byanyima and her husband Kizza Besigye, was at a crossroads. Jacob was really unhappy with his friend/part mentor Norbert who had decamped to an outfit (whose name I cannot remember) led by Aggrey S. Awori and left him in the cold. Jacob had actually been a very good teacher of Legislative drafting at Law Development Centre. In his earlier years he had been a student leader, mature age entrant into Law School and if the past defines the future, he was quickly elected to Parliament in 2001.

In his first term he co-sponsored a motion with Gregory Mugisha Muntu in the 6th Parliament that reduced presidential coattails on election day mandating that the presidential and parliamentary election be held on the same day.

The wisdom of this is mixed. While it may have saved some seats for the shrinking opposition in the first elections, it has actually worsened their fate in the general elections as driven by selfish interest most

Members of Parliament are eager to campaign for themselves rather than their candidates. In 2021 Gregory Mugisha was able to wipe his slate of three MPs clean as they fell by the wayside in Arua Municipality, Ntungamo Municipality and Jinja City (even though the last one may be overturned in court).

My expectations of the new Speaker is that he will perform better than his predecessor is predicated on one thing, as a draftsman he understands the impact of legislation on a nation’s political, social and economic life. But that’s probably the end of the story, he will have to dive deep into the entrenched fiefdoms that parts of Parliament have become, actually above the law.

In their oversight role, Parliament has sometimes abandoned its primary function, to make law.

In her 2001 autobiography, Betty Boothroyd a Sunday Times best seller which I shared with First Parliamentary Counsel, the first and so far only female speaker of the House of Commons the “mother of Parliaments” made a few observations true.

The most important function of Parliament is to process legislation and Speakers generally serve at the pleasure of the Executive.  The Executive often will withdraw confidence in the Speaker (removing the rug from his feet) a lesson her successors failed to learn to their detriment.

Michael Martin (2001-2009) collapsed in a house of scandals (with his entrenched cabal of MPs) in the expenses scandal. British MP salaries are fairly modest compared to Nigeria, Kenya or the US Congress so the premises become part of the remuneration. John Bercow (2009-2019) had an equally long run but was disliked by the blue blood Conservatives who got rid of him as Brexit gained speed. He too was longer on the “expense” side. The Speaker of the British Parliament draws a huge salary a couple of multiple times that of the Prime Minister to keep this peace.

Jacob Oulanyah will be presiding over a Parliament similar but different from the its predecessor. It may be much younger, more diverse but also structurally weakened.

The 10th Parliament in 2018 repeated the mistake of the 6th Parliament by failing to assert its voice on the topic of transition. Just as before voters went to the polls to “punish” the incumbents electing new MPs in even bigger numbers to repeat the same. 

The President however has spoken and pulled the levers on Rebecca Kadaga, part protégé, part pugilist, a pioneer in many ways but a product of his political system sending her into retirement with perks but also diminished standing in society.

­­­Mr Ssemogerere is an Attorney-At-Law and an Advocate.

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