KAMPALA — Parliament has granted leave to Paul Mwiru (Jinja Municipality East) MP to bring a private member’s bill seeking to amend the constitution through the Constitution Amendment Bill 2020 to set up a tribunal to handle election petitions.
Mwiru defended the proposed constitutional amendment saying he had combined his electoral proposal with those of Wilfred Niwagaba (Shadow Attorney General) but during the printing process, his proposal was omitted prompting Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah to advise him to table his amendment separately to conform with Rules and Procedure of Parliament.
He said that the current legal framework of handling petitions is not only time consuming but also costly for many of the aggrieved personnel involved in the litigation process and wants the law to provide a timeframe through which these petitions can be handled to ensure efficiency in delivery of justice.
The Jinja East MP also said that the proposed constitutional amendment also seeks to address the un even distribution of jobs in public service which he says does not represent a national character.
However, Jacob Oboth, Chairperson Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee asked the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to ensure that Parliament sets up a time frame in which to have amendments as the committee is overwhelmed with the number of amendments yet the time to look for jobs is nearing up.