Shadow Justice Minister Medard Ssegona

He said that the police officer to give to a suspect a police bond will need to be bribed. He challenged the DPP also to join the prosecutors strike enhance their point of protesting low payment since he is the chief prosecutor.

He told the DPP to argue for bail applications for the suspects seeking for bail now as the prosecutors are still on strike. He said that he is in pain over being paid by his clients and he cannot secure bail for them.

He however supports the prosecutors strike to earn better salary so as they can purchase what is required of them.

According to the current salary structure of prosecutors under DPP, the lowest ranking state prosecutor earns a gross salary of 644, 963 shillings a month with the highest paid prosecutor at the rank of Senior Principal State Attorney taking a gross monthly pay of 2.1 million shilling.

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Uganda Law Reform Commission (ULRC) Chairperson,Vastina Rukimirana

The long awaited Marriage and Divorce Bill is still facing resistance from some MPs and a cross section of the public who say though it has been amended; it does not address all the concerns earlier raised against it.

However, the Uganda Law Commission (ULC) has asked Parliament Speaker, the Rt.Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, to order the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs to table the bill before Parliament for the first reading.

According to Uganda Law Reform Commission (ULRC) Chairperson,Vastina Rukimirana, the title of the bill was  changed to the Marriage Bill and that the contentious cohabitation provision which previously stared arguments has been removed.

“We reviewed the bill along the recommendations from the numerous stakeholders. We agreed to remove all the controversial clauses,” she said.

MPs however, argue that they need to consult more with their voters to ensure that they are in agreement with the current amendments. Zombo District Woman MP,Grace Kwiyocwiny, who is also the State Minister for Northern Uganda says that she has no problem with the bill if the contentious issues are removed.

Buyaga West MP, Barnabas Tinkasimire, when contacted for a comment about the bill said that he will make a decision after consulting his constituents whereas his counterpart the Buyaga East MP, Eric Musana, said a lot of consultations will need to be done at the grass roots so that there is no pending issue like it was previously.

The Marriage and Divorce Bill is expected to be re-tabled in Parliament after proposed amendments were presented to Kadaga.

ULC had been had earlier been tasked by the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Kahinda Otafire, to review the Bill hence its renaming and scrapping of the controversial clauses.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Kahinda Otafiire

Dubbed the Marriage Bill, the Commission made it more inclusive of all marriage types in the country while at the same time deleting all clauses such as the one on co-habitation that had earlier sparked outrage among citizens

Kadaga noted that rights for those cohabiting had to be protected especially for children born out such relationships, and for couples who had been together for over 30 years.

“Co-habitation is a reality; it is high time we stopped burying our heads in the sand. We need to protect the interests of these in the bill,” Kadaga said.

The Marriage and Divorce Bill, which came into the spotlight in 2009 was seen to be a platform to right the wrongs that were seen to done to women in marriage.

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Kahinda Otafire the constitutional affairs minister.

Parliament has given the Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister, Kahinda Otafire an ultimatum of two weeks in order to furnish the house with the status of the elections of village councils.

The directive was issued by the deputy speaker of parliament after opposition MPs who included; Mukono municipality MP, Betty Nambooze ,Busiro East MP Medard  Segoona ,Kira municipality MP, Ibrahim semujju Nganda and leader of opposition, Winfred Kiiza among others questioned when the government will hold the village council elections saying the people are demanding for new leaders to take over the new offices.

Nambooze said that people want to know what they should do with the leaders of village councils who are holding offices illegally.

The opposition chief whip, Ibrahim Semujju Nganda is concerned that the current illegal village councils are presiding over the sale of properties like land.

Otafire had earlier during his submission told parliament that he has no money to order for the election of village councils although parliament before 2016 elections passed the local government amendment bill 2014 for election of village leaders to be done through lining up.

However, after the deputy speaker‘s directive, Otafire promised to adhere to parliament stand and in two weeks will give the status of village council elections.

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Kahinda Otafiire

The Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs Kahinda Otafire has asked all NRM members intending to aspire for Political offices within the Party to respect the Party rules.

Kahinda while at Parliament told this to journalists and hinted at Former Prime minister Amama Mbabazi for going against the Party rules yet he was the architecture of the very law that he is abusing when he was a Secretary General of NRM.

He dismissed claims that he has a personal grudge with Rt Hon Amama Mbabazi saying their personal differences ended in Namboole when he contested with him as Secretary General of the Party and lost.

Kahinda called on Amama to either follow the Party rules or quit and form his own Political Party other than disorganizing the members within.

Kahinda Otafire is currently a member of Central Executive Committee (CEC) one of the highest organs in the NRM Party.

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MP Gerald Karuhanga campaigning for restoration of term limits

Otafire’s remarks come at a time when a section of members of parliament and civil society organizations are pushing for the restoration of the presidential term limits.

Otafire says Uganda has a number of problems which cannot be solved by simply restoring presidential term limits.

He says if the public was not interested in the current regime it would have not voted the NRM in power for the fourth time.

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