The Speaker of Parliament pledges support to the citizens’ proposed Electoral Reforms
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament has this morning formally pledged support to the proposed reforms on Free and Fair Elections. This pronouncement was made at a meeting organized by Uganda National NGO Forum and attended by both political party leaders and Civil Society representatives and the media. “The question we are asking today is one we have asked before. The other day, we were informed that cabinet would hold a special sitting to discuss electoral reforms, this is an issue that we are all passionate about and I pledge that parliament will avail an opportunity to each Member of Parliament to share his or her ideas.” Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanya, Deputy Speaker of Parliament.
This meeting was held to present the Citizens’ Compact on Free and Fair Elections to the Speaker of Parliament ahead of the parliamentary debate on the reforms. It is imperative to recall that, a petition was sent to the Office of the Speaker of Parliament on the 5th of December 2014 for debate after the National Consultation on Free and Fair Elections in November 2014. Sadly though, the Office of the Speaker has maintained that it has no received any concrete proposals.
“We therefore request the Speaker of Parliament to facilitate a sober debate so that Ugandans can witness a free and fair election where citizens can elect the leaders they desire.” Hon. Norbert Mao, the current co-chair of the coordinating team on Free and Fair Elections.
The campaign for Free and Fair Elections is inspired by the electoral and political history of the country which is characterized by violent transfer of political power since the independence era. This dark history is partly due to failure to organize Free and Fair Elections. The Citizens compact therefore lays out a set of Citizen’s proposals gathered through a countrywide consultative process.
