The Uganda Law Society [ULS] has proposed that the election of the speaker of parliament should be scrapped so that this position becomes appointive. This is contained in their proposals tabled before the legal and a parliamentary affairs committee chaired by Stephen Tashobya.
Ruth Sebatindira- President Uganda Law Society
The ULS team told the committee that article 82[2] of the constitution should be amended so that the speaker of parliament ceases to be an elected speaker but an appointed one. They noted that this task of appointing should be done by the parliamentary commission through an independent process. The same ULS wants the speaker to be slapped with term limits; giving him or her two terms in that office in addition to not belonging to any political party.
The group had turned up to give their proposals on the ongoing process to amend the constitution which government tabled on Tuesday.
The Law Society suggests that by having an appointed speaker, this will encourage neutrality and independence since the speaker is charged with an administrative duty of parliament and presides over parliamentary sittings. They added that given the operation of multi-party system, the speaker will be free of any influence by a particular party.
USL also wants ministers to resign their parliamentary seats immediately after being appointed ministers, something they claimed would enhance the doctrine of separation of powers where each arm of government will operate independently.