The Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga has rejected the new appointments of parliament commissioner and Pan African Parliament (PAP) Representative that were recently made by the FDC President, Patrick Amuriat Oboi.
Two weeks ago, Amuriat reshuffled FDC cabinet at Parliament where he among others dropped Winfred Kiiza (Kasese district) and replaced her with Gulu Woman MP Betty Aol Ochan. He also dropped Katuntu as COSASE chair and replaced him with Kawempe South MP Mubarak Munyagwa. Amuriat also appointed Busongola North MP, William Nzoghu to the Pan African Parliament (PAP) replacing Prof. Ogenga Latigo as well as Buhweju County MP, Francis Mwijukye to replace Cecilia Ogwal as Parliament commissioner.
During her communication to the House on Tuesday, Kadaga said that the two mentioned positions are bound by term limits and that the FDC members whose term of office has not expired should be allowed to complete their term.
The composition of the Parliamentary Commission is provided for in section 2 of the Administration of Parliament which require that the MPs on this commission serve for a period of 2 and a half years.
“Except where the commissioner vacates the commission in circumstances prescribed in article 83, where he or she is moved by parliament for inability to perform functions of the commission, a backbench commissioner is entitled to serve for two and half years,” Kadaga said.
“Therefore, the removal of such a member before the expiry of two and half years is not legal.”
Therefore, the appointment of Mwijukye as a commissioner can only be effected after December 2018 when the tenure of the current backbench commissioners expires.
Kadaga also guided that MP William Nzoghu cannot take on his new position since the term of five years of the current representative has not yet expired as provided in article 5 of the Protocol to the Treaty Establishing the African Economic Community relating to the Pan African Parliament which says that, “the term of a Member of the Pan African Parliament shall run concurrently with his or her term in Parliament.”
