Under what law are we having both a District woman MP and City Woman MP at the Same time?


By Michael Aboneka

The rush to create new cities has been marred with the appetite to create constituencies for many and not necessarily for the reasons of economic development among others. I have not seen any strategic development plan of any of the new Cities but rather been bamboozled with Candidate Posters of all manner and colour intending to take up political seats in the new cities. Among these is the "City Woman MP."
I am wondering what law created the vacancy of "City Woman MP." Article 78 of the Constitution establishes the composition of the Parliament and specifically 78 (1) (b) establishes One Woman Representative for each District. Therefore, this means that the Constitution refers to a District and not a City for a representative of the Women in a district.

Secondly, a City is curved out of a District that already has a Representative of the woman (wrongfully and commonly referred to as "Woman MP") and there is no need of a Second representative of the Women for the same group of people, it is far from logic.

Thirdly, even if the intention of this creation may be for good intentions, what would be the Terms of reference of a "City Woman MP" that a Representative of the Women at the District will not cover? This shows that the rush is not intended to benefit the Women as they already have a Representative at the District level as envisaged by Article 78 (1) (b) of the Constitution and in as much as affirmative action is concerned, they are already covered.

Therefore; we need to tread carefully as this "Juicy Political vacancy " has no backing in Law and we may end up wasting resources and sweat in filling a non-existent vacancy. The vacany is only good for a mental satisfaction but not tenable in law and practice of Representative Democracy as it only creates "Double Representation" a conundrum our Constitution has safely guarded against.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why we should worry about the growing inequality in Uganda

by Michael Aboneka   Uganda continues to grapple with worrying inequalities and regional imbalances.  According to World Bank (2022), half of the population was moderately food insecure and the poorest households were unable to buy food products in the desired amounts. This means that half of our population is a hungry one which can do anything for survival.  In 2021 the Ministry of Finance reported that 28% of Ugandans were poor increasing from 18% prior to COVID-19 era with about two thirds of Uganda losing income and the economy and business still staggers while the gap between the poor and rich widens further because the poor and less privileged are affected adversely proving that  Uganda’s growth is not inclusive. Recently; I saw a number of colleagues expressing their disappointment after some young men stole side mirrors of their cars in broad day light in Kampala and they were left helpless; they couldn’t even run after the thieves. The same state of hopelessness is true to maj
Read more

The US Africa-summit: What is in it for Uganda?

  By Michael Aboneka The US Africa summit, the first of its kind for eight years, following the end of the era of Donald Trump and his America first policy, just concluded. With US President, Joe Biden, deliberately playing a different tune from his predecessor Donald Trump. His was indeed a courting ode, with a promise that the US is "All in on Africa's future”. Even more endearing was the declaration that “Africa belongs at the table in every room — in every room where global challenges are being discussed and in every institution where discussions are taking place” that accompanied the promise that US will support African Union joining the G20 group of large economies as a permanent member.  Biden announced $2 billion in humanitarian aid for Africa to address acute food insecurity, with emphasis that Africa has potential to feed itself and the world and a joke that he, like a poor relative, will visit Africa and spend a long time there. The cheery tone and overt support fro
Read more

The Computer Misuse (Amendment) Bill 2022 cures no mischief

  By Michael Aboneka Jr Hon. Muhammad Nsereko sought leave of Parliament to table an amendment bill to the Computer Misuse Act in February 2022 and has now tabled the bill on the floor of Parliament. In my view, there is nothing new that the new law is seeking to cure and I am waiting to read the Regulatory impact assessment and the justifications thereof beyond public debates.  From the proposed long title of the bill, objectives and the clause on defects in existing law, it is not clear and specific enough of what mischief the bill intends to cure. The amendment seeks to largely protect the right to privacy, prohibition of unlawful access to data and spreading of false information which are already protected by existing legal frameworks such as the Constitution, Children Act, the Human Rights Enforcement Act 2019, Penal Code Act, Data protection and privacy Act 2019 among others. All these provide layers of protection that the bill seeks to do and by large, the amendment will only du
Read more