Leader of Opposition in Parliament and also Kasese District Woman MP, Winnie Kiiza

Opposition Members in Parliament this weekend launched a countrywide campaign against the proposed constitutional amendment of Article 26 starting with Masaka district.

The amendment intends to give government the mandate to compulsory acquisition of private land for government development purposes.

The Leader of Opposition in Parliament and also Kasese District Woman MP, Winnie Kiiza, says that the opposition members need to consult the general public about the proposed amendment.

Considering the legislative role for Members of Parliament, Kiiza says that the Opposition does not expect the police to stop them went they go out to the 21 sub regions of Uganda consulting the people on the law that pertains their rights on land.

Kiiza says that it would illegal for the police to block any member of parliament from consulting Ugandans on a bill that is before Parliament.

According to the program, the opposition MPs will move to Kampala District, Katwe, Nakulabye, Kasokoso in particular before going the Wakiso district.

She told reporters at the Parliament that through this campaign the public will be sensitized on demerits of the proposed amendments urging that the bill was brought in bad faith and it is not in interests of Ugandans.

Flanked by members of the shadow cabinet, Kiiza says that the only resource Ugandans are left with is land and they cannot allow President Museveni and his colleagues to deprive them of this only resource.

Makindye West MP, Allan Sewanyana

Makindye West MP, Allan Sewanyana, told this Newspaper that the argument of compulsory acquisition of land for purposes of government development project does not hold water since government can still get land for development after full compensation of land owners.

Ssewanyana adds there precedents where government has acquired land displaced people in the name of development but to-date the land is idle. He says in some cases such land acquired by government is instead development by private individuals under the guise of investors.

Meanwhile, Kiiza also points out that this bill could be used to fight and cripple political opponents, by government forcefully taking their property under the guise of putting up development projects and giving inadequate compensation to the victim.

On the ongoing debate of lifting the presidential Age limit, Kiiza says that the opposition will tackle the matter at the appropriate time.

The post Opposition launches campaign against constitutional amendment of Article 26 first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

A She Cranes player in action recently

Parliament on Tuesday this week  passed a resolution recorganising the Uganda She Cranes for winning 2017 Africa Netball Championship and urging government to construct the national netball play ground for the national netball team.
The motion recorgansing the she crane contribution was moved by the Woman MP for Masindi district, Jalia Bintu and seconded by the Oyam district MP,Santa Alum.

Bintu said that netball sports have been neglected by government yet its contribution has put the country to high heights.

In this vein the MPS through the Member of Parliament for Makindye East, Allan Sewanyana, pledged to contribute each 500,000 shillings to purchase a she crane bus to solve the problem of transport they face.

MPs blamed government for delaying to honor the monthly salary payment pledge to She cranes, following its assurance that any sportsmen who would win medals will get this payment.

She Cranes working as a team

The performance of the She-Cranes has made Uganda move to the 9th position in the world from the 13th position in netball rankings.

The post Parliament honors Uganda She Cranes first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Janet Museveni the minister of education

The minister for education and sports, Janet Museveni, also the First Lady has blamed budget cuts to the ministry for the continued low delivery of quality education in the country.

She indicated that in last four financial years her ministry has suffered budget cuts from 15% to 11%.

The First Lady disclosed this last week while appearing before the parliamentary education committee presided over by Mbale district woman member of parliament, Connie Nayenze Galiwango .

She told the committee that budget cuts leave a critical budget gap of 465 billion shillings for unfunded priorities, which affects ministerial plans for the education and sports sector.

Mrs Museveni said that UPE and USE may not improve if some sub counties are still lacking government schools to enroll this government programme.

Children in a UPE school

However, some members of the committee who included: Busia Municipality MP, Godfrey Macho and the Mbale Municipality MP, Jack Wamayi Wamanga together with the Makindye West MP, Allan Sewanyana protested the way the chairperson of this committee, Connie Galiwango protected Mrs. Museveni saying she was avoiding the tough questions posed to her in relation to the education sector which she heads, whereas Galiwango kept preventing her from giving sufficient explanations.

The post Janet Museveni blames low quality education on budget cuts first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.

Makindye West MP Allan Sewanyana.

The Member of Parliament for Makindye West, Allan Sewanyana, has suggested that a review of the Local Government (Amendment) Act 2014 whose provisions for lining up behind candidates while voting village council leaders be changed to secret ballot.

He says that the law is impractical since many villages have a sizeable number of voters and that it will be difficult to have grounds to accommodate them and get enough protection hence calling for secret ballot voting.

Sewanyana together with the Mukono Municipality Member of Parliament, Betty Nambooze were giving their submissions recently during the Public Service and Local Government Committee sitting at Parliament.

He asked the committee chaired by the Igara West MP, Rapheal Maghezi, to prevail over the Kampala Minister, Betty Olive Kamya Turomwe, so that a legal
instrument can be worked out and make Kampala part of the local council elections since the local government Amendment bill 2016 which is under scrutiny does not include elections for village councils .

The Electoral commission scheduled village and women council elections for 17th January 2017 though there is still contention over the funds released by government for this exercise.

Meanwhile a section of  citizens who also appeared before the public service and local government committee handling the local government Amendment Act 2016, have demanded that the committee moves to different areas to seek public views over this bill.

Elections on-going in Uganda.

The chairperson of Muyenga village in Makindye East Constituency, Yasin Omar, Joseph Mubiru a senior citizen from Mpigi, and Ssalongo Segonja Lwanga from Ganda Wakiso district said that the public hearing should be extended to other areas to capture people’s views on this bill arguing that the proposed bill has many lope holes.

Omar told the committee chair Magyezi that they should also cause constitutional amendments to stop the electoral commission from conducting village council elections and that the mandate given to district local councils election exercise the electoral commission is full of irregularities and malpractices.

Omar and a senior citizen Joseph Mubiru proposed that the village councils should be conducted under individual merit and through secret ballot instead of political parties so as to have harmony in the villages.

The post Makindye MP Sewanyana wants secret ballot for LC elections as citizens demand public hearings first appeared on Uganda Multimedia News & Information.