Why sections of  Local Govt Act won’t  apply in 2021 polls

On March 4, Parliament passed the Local Governments (Amendment) Bill, 2019 after a long debate. 
One of the most contentious issues was the proposal by MP Elijah Okupa that there should be minimum education qualification for candidates intending to vie for local council chairpersons, town councils, and division ouncillors.

No attention was paid to the fact that they actually needed to amend Article 180(2) (b) of the Constitution before presenting the amendment in section 10(1) (e) in the Local Government Act

In this Bill, Parliament passed a proposal to create a seat for women representatives for every sub-county, town council and urban divisions. Parliament also passed a proposal that the newly created local government units shall only take effect six months to the 2021 General Election.
According to the Electoral Commission, Article 180(2) (b) of the Constitution that provides for one-third of the membership of each local government council to be reserved for women, was not amended. 
 
The recently passed Local Governments (Amendment) Act of 2020, amended Section 10(1) (e) and 23(1) (e) which are the same as Article 180(2) (b) of the Constitution was ignored. 
The amendment in the local government now provides that each electoral area, that is, a sub-county and district, shall be represented by a directly-elected Woman Councillor. This is clearly inconsistent with the Article cited above since the said constitutional article was not amended.

Accordingly, the Commission will abide by the Constitutional provision, and nominate candidates in fulfilment of the requirement for one-third for women representation. This makes the amendment of Article 10(1) (e) and 23(1) redundant for now until Parliament makes an amendment to Article 180(2) (b) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda.

Polling for Municipality and City Division Committees was scheduled for September 25, for Municipality and City Division people with disabilities committees September 28, and polling for Municipality and City Division Youth Committees, September 30 as per the Commission’s latest release.

One would wonder whether before the minister introduced the Bill to Parliament passed by the Attorney General’s office and if so why didn’t they advise the minister? I know that this government has a minister for Constitutional Affairs and he most likely interfaced with this Bill, at least in Cabinet. The question is, have the presenters of the Bill achieved the intended objective when it becomes redundant in this election? 

For the benefit of the readers, the  objective of The Local Governments Amendment Bill,2019 was to amend the Local Governments Act, Cap. 243 to provide for the creation of local government magistrate units, at least two years before the due date for the next General Election; to provide for the demarcation of electoral areas; to prescribe the manner of conducting campaigns; to bar persons not ordinarily resident in a local government area from contesting for councillor for that area.

My plea to Parliament is, it is always better to harmonise positions before passing a Bill. If only this was taken into consideration, the women rights advocates would be celebrating this achievement. 

And those looking out for numbers of women in elective positions would have to wait a little longer until government proposes an amendment to Article 180 of the Constitution. 
The Electoral Commission will only consider the implementation of Section 10(1) (e) and 23(1) (e)   of the amended Local Government Act 2020 after harmonising the two.

Ms Lule is an election analyst at Citizens’ Coalition 
for Electoral Democracy in Uganda (CCEDU). 
[email protected]