In Uganda one could become an MP times seven in the same House. ILLUSTRATION | JOHN NYAGAH | NMG
Uganda scored a first this past week by electing to parliament a
man who was already an MP in the same parliament representing another
constituency.
Dr Elioda Tumwesigye, who is a Cabinet minister, was sitting MP for Sheema North constituency when another opening arose.
Some six municipalities were recently accorded constituency status and Sheema Municipality, in Sheema North, was one of them.
As
sitting MP for Sheema North, the medical man threw his hat into the
ring for the municipality as well without giving up his parliamentary
seat. He campaigned on the ruling party ticket and won!
Apparently,
there was nothing in the law to stop him from standing. Satisfied with
his victory, he left it to parliament and the electoral commission to
declare one of the two seats vacant, the assumption by most being that
it is the old constituency that will be declared vacant.
But
suppose the double MP (actually triple because anybody appointed as
minister automatically becomes an MP) decided he wanted to keep the old
constituency and not the new one? Again the law is silent, what the
learned brothers call a lacuna.
But this being Uganda,
suppose the Sheema district woman MP’s seat suddenly fell vacant, and
the triple MP happened to be a woman, what would stop her from bidding
for it as well, and winning? That would give her four seats.
In
politically over-represented Uganda, we have seats at district level
that are only for women. So the district woman MP represents people who
are already represented by their MPs in constituencies that used to
correspond to counties.
Now suppose the quadruple MP
happened to be youthful and she vied for the youth seat in her region.
(We also have such seats, which is how we got 456 MPs, almost the same
number as India whose population is 34 times larger than that of
Uganda.)
On becoming MP times five, our person learns
of a vacant workers’ seat and being a worker, she vies for it and wins.
She becomes elected MP five times for the same house plus MP by
ministerial appointment.
Four of the six seats would
of course be declared vacant but if there is nothing to stop her, she
continues and stands for another seat, for the disabled.
How
disabled is disabled, according to the law? She could be having a limp,
or get a doctor to certify that she has a disability that is invisible
to the naked eye. So she could become MP times seven in the same House.
What
the Hon Tumwesigye has done is to expose the weakness of the country’s
electoral laws. Many especially in the opposition attacked him, calling
him greedy, but he must be thanked for this exposure.
He
has also exposed the lack of seriousness of those who were tasked to
review the electoral regime after the 2016 petition against the
president’s election, following the Supreme Court’s directive to the
effect.
For example, there are many by-elections that
arise out of malpractice by candidates. But surprisingly, the candidates
who engage in the criminal acts that lead to vote cancellation are
allowed to stand again in the by-election. Common sense wouldn’t allow
that but our peculiar electoral system does.
Joachim Buwembo is a social and political commentator based in Kampala.
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