Ndorwa\nEast MP, Hon Wilfred Niwagaba has sought the leave of Parliament to table a\nConstitution Amendment Bill which seeks to scrap the position of Vice President\nand Prime Minister, among a cocktail of other proposals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nobjects of the Constitution Amendment Bill 2019, outlines its ambitious\nintentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Key\nin the proposed amendments is the creation of the position of Deputy President,\nwho unlike the current provision in article 99 of the Constitution will be\nchosen by a candidate for president as a running-mate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nDeputy President proposed will swallow up the Office of the Prime Minister and\nbe the Leader of Government Business in Parliament and among others exercise\nall functions currently reserved for the Prime Minister.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presidential\nterm limits are to be reinstated and restricted to two five-year terms only, if\nclause 12 of the Bill sees the light of day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Politicians\nseeking to be Ministers but are already Members of Parliament, will have their\ndreams doomed by the success of the Bill, which seeks to have Ministers\nappointed from amongst people possessing the qualification of MPs but not being\nMPs themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Commissioners\nof the Electoral Commission who are currently 7, will, should the leave be\ngranted and the Bill passed, be increased to nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Appointment\nof Commissioners and the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission will,\naccording to the Bill, have to be done through a rigorous process involving the\nJudicial Service Commission and public vetting in what analysts see as\nborrowing from the practice in neighboring Kenya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nBill seeks to secure the tenure of the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney\nGeneral, by making their occupancy for five years renewable only once.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nLeader of the Opposition is now proposed to be the leader of the opposition\npolitical party with the highest number of MPs in the House, and will be an\nex-officio MP, as will be the case with the Attorney General and the Deputy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Section\n(f) of the object seeks to \u201cto remove representation of the army from\nParliament,\u201d a proposal the Opposition has been mooting for years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nParliamentary Commission will, if the motion is granted and the Bill passed, be\nappointed by the Parliamentary Commission, who will recommend nominees for\nappointment by the President, a role currently exercised by the Public Service\nCommission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Speaker\u2019s\npanel<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nSpeaker\u2019s panel, consisting of three MPs chosen by the Speaker, will, in the\nabsence of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, preside over the House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Civil\nServants seeking to join elective politics will no longer suffer the dilemma of\nchoosing between their jobs or shelving their political dreams until retirement\nbut now have to seek leave of absence and descend hard onto politics, with the\noption of returning to their positions after the polls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Deputy\nAttorney General, HON Mwesigwa Rukutana could not follow through the motion\nwithout raising procedural objections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhat\nis before you is a motion for leave to present a Private Members\u2019 Bill\u2026when I\nlook at article 93 of the Constitution; I want to tell you that the Bill has\nfinancial implications\u2026it is proposing to increase the number of Electoral\nCommissioners among others,\u201d said Rukutana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\nplaced the first procedural hurdle, which forced Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah\nto rest the matter, and await his \u201ccomprehensive procedural guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oulanyah\nwarned MPs against hard-line positions in Parliament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\nwas here in this chair when arguments were pelted against the Hon Member for\nNakifuma [MP Robert Kafeero Ssekitoleko] that a Private Member cannot move a\nmotion to amend the Constitution\u2026never take a line that will end up tying the\nhands of a Member of Parliament,\u201d said Oulanyah.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ndorwa East MP, Hon Wilfred Niwagaba has sought the leave of Parliament to table a Constitution Amendment Bill which seeks to scrap the position of Vice President and Prime Minister, among a cocktail of other proposals. The objects of the Constitution Amendment Bill 2019, outlines its ambitious intentions. Key in the proposed amendments is the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27983,"featured_media":10503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_paywall_metabox":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n