Was 11th Parliament for or against the people?

After Jacob Oulanyah won a bitter race against Rebecca Kadaga to become the Speaker of the 11th Parliament in May 2021, he promised to preside over a “people-centred House.” When Oulanyah died in March 2022, Anita Among, his replacement, doubled down on the promise.

In a four-part series titled The House That Was, Arthur Arnold Wadero takes stock of the 556-strong House whose mandate runs from May 2021 to May 2026. In the first instalment, he revisits major debates that played out on the floor of Parliament.

Chapter Six of the Constitution bestows immense powers on the legislative branch of government while willing into existence the Administration of Parliament Act that dictates the manner in which the House should be run. Such powers, which include representation of the majority of Ugandans, require the Legislature to check Executive power by, chiefly, dictating the direction of the country in terms of law and policy. It is on that premise that the 11th Parliament of Uganda, whose mandate runs its course in May, is judged.

A House document, the Strategic Plan of Parliament for Financial Year (FY) 2025/2026 to FY2029/2030, collectively scored the 11th Parliament a lowly 33 percent for executing the “representative role of MPs [Members of Parliament].”

The same document put the “institutional capacity of Parliament to independently undertake its constitutional mandate effectively and efficiently” at 63 percent. It gives the sense that scores could have been much better were House attendances much higher.

Hardly a check on the Executive

The physical presence of lawmakers in the House was generally low, with records indicating that the highest average sitting had 334 out of the 556 members. In fact, the House Strategic Plan shows that, on average, 80 lawmakers attended plenary sittings during the FY2020/2021 and FY2021/2022.

The number jumped to an average of 280 in FY2022/2023 and later to 334 in FY2023/2024. The numbers, or lack of, did not hurt the interests of the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. The positions of the Executive were accepted with barely any changes. Take in May last year when the House passed the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (Amendment) Bill, 2025, triggering public uproar. Many frowned at Parliament because of the way the legislation was enacted and the format it took.

Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament (LoP), put up a spirited fight, but his camp could only do as much. On November 6, 2024, similar displeasure was registered after the House endorsed Cabinet’s directive to dissolve the Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and mainstreamed its functions to the Ministry of Agriculture.

“We of NRM and Fronasa always work for patriotism and not money. These side government agencies like UCDA, DDA and Unra [Uganda National Roads Authority] were temporary measures I accepted at the beginning of our government mainly because of low pay for our public servants and their low enthusiasm for work,” President Museveni said in a televised address 24 hours later as he basked in the glory of the Executive and the Legislature singing from the same hymn sheet.

The response that the House received from the ordinary folk after the enactment of both legislations was a far cry from how the passing of an anti-homosexuality law was greeted in early 2023.

Bubulo East MP John Musila displays his anti-gay attire during plenary at Parliament on March 21, 2024. The Uganda government is worried that its US counterpart could stop HIV/Aids support over the anti-gay law. PHOTO/FILE.

Eventually, the anti-gay law saw the global north react by cutting off funding to some of the government’s key programmes, particularly those in the care of the Health ministry. Observers say such populist approaches to legislating came at the expense of private members’ bills on issues like a national minimum wage or electoral reform which have either stalled or quietly been dropped.

“These trends underscore how Executive dominance has curtailed Parliament’s autonomy and compromised its constitutional mandate,” Mr Timothy Chemonges, the executive director of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), says. The Opposition used its voice on the floor of Parliament to shine the spotlight on rights violations.

Mr Mathias Mpuuga, the immediate past LoP, was especially vocal. In October 2023, he engineered a walkout of Opposition lawmakers after questions around illegal arrests fell on the Executive’s deaf ears.

“As leaders in this country, we cannot afford the luxury of glossing over these violations consistently while we purport to be legislating. There is no sense in the amount of Bills that we shall pass on the floor of Parliament when the beneficiaries are being hunted like wild beasts and victimised all-over the country and Parliament has not summoned the courage to confront the elephant in the room,” Mr Mpuuga said.

Did the Opposition find its voice?

The Opposition, this time on LoP Ssenyonyi’s watch, bitterly opposed plans to have regional sittings, with the inaugural plenary session lined up for August 2024. Mr Ssenyonyi reasoned that it was not financially prudent to shell out Shs5 billion on regional sittings, which after making a stopover in Gulu would also go to Mbale and Mbarara, to mention but two. The inaugural regional sitting in Gulu saw Mr Richard Lumu, the Mityana South lawmaker, granted leave to introduce a Private Member’s Bill—The Administration of Parliament Bill 2024. This, among other things, sought to have the LoP elected by all Opposition lawmakers; not those of the leading Opposition party as is currently the case.

The Bill suffered a stillbirth after lawmakers from across the political spectrum frowned upon it. The Opposition in the 11th Parliament used a number of plenary sittings to pressure the government to offer redress to pressing concerns in the country. Attention was drawn to illegal arrests, enforced disappearances, and gross abuse of human rights. Pressure was also mounting on the government for its slow reaction in addressing the plight of Ugandans in Arab countries, poor healthcare, high road carnage in the country and stalled projects eating away the taxpayer’s money with little or no progress such as the International Specialised Hospital at Lubowa.

In a remarkable twist, Mr Mpuuga came in for flak for taking a so-called service award. This would culminate in Mr Mpuuga and other lawmakers, including Abed Bwanika, breaking ranks with the National Unity Platform (NUP) party. But before that, there was a storm of the money that Mr Mpuuga and other three back bench Parliamentary Commissioners received totalling Shs1.7 billion.

While Mr Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central), Ms Esther Afoyochan (Zombo Woman MP) and Ms Prossy Akampurira Mbabazi (Rubanda DWR), all from the NRM party, are believed to have pocketed Shs400m, Mr Mpuuga is said to have bagged Shs500m.

The commissioners accused of sharing Shs1.7b (L-R): Mathias Mpuuga (Nyendo – Mukungwe MP), Prossy Mbabazi Akampurira (Rubanda Woman MP), Esther Afoyochan (Zombo Woman MP) and Solomon Silwanyi (Bukooli Central MP). PHOTOS/ FILE/ COURTESY

Mr Theodore Ssekikuubo (Lwemiyaga County) and Mr Alion Yorke Odria (Aringa South) pushed for an impeachment process to unseat the four commissioners. They were joined by Ms Sarah Opendi (Tororo DWR).

The debate, however, never made it to the floor of Parliament. Regardless, Mr Odria used a plenary sitting that Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa chaired on July 24, 2025 to make his feeling known.

“We voted for you [Mr Tayebwa] and the Speaker [Ms Anita Among] to chair this House neutrally. Right Hon [Deputy] Speaker, you have failed to defend this House, the President painted us clearly [as corrupt in his address at] Kololo [when he said] that “I used to hear that there is corruption in Parliament and the Ministry of Finance, but now I have evidence,” Mr Odria told Tayebwa.

He added: “My first question is [that], you as the Chair, [and] as the [Deputy] Speaker, what have you done to clean our image which has been painted bad. Wherever we are moving, they [members of the public] are calling us corrupt. In this same Parliament, we [MPs] stood [and] requested you, yourself and the Speaker - Right Hon Anita Among that there is a Parliament Exhibition going on the issues of corruption, give us space on the Order Paper, to have this matter debated. [But] it is two months down the road [but this has not happened].”

Eventually, Mr Odria told Tayebwa to clean up the House.

“You need to clean [your name] as [Deputy Speaker]. Anita Among needs to clean her name. The Commissioners need to clean their names. The ministers need to clean their names. And as MPs, if you [members of the public] have anything against us in this Parliament, we need to clean our names. Why don’t you want this matter to be debated on this floor? Deputy Speaker [Mr Tayebwa], we need this matter addressed,” Mr Odria said.

Mityana Municipality MP Francis Zaake (centre) reacts after he was assaulted by Kilak North MP Anthony Akol in a scuffle as the House debated the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024 on November 6, 2024. PHOTO/ FILE

The law

“Chapter 6 of the Constitution states: ‘Parliament shall consist of members directly elected to represent constituencies; one woman representative for every district; such numbers of representatives of the army, youth, workers, persons with disabilities and other groups as Parliament may determine; and the Vice President and Ministers, who, if not already elected members of Parliament, shall be ex officio members of Parliament without the right to vote on any issue requiring a vote in Parliament.

Upon the expiration of a period of ten years after the commencement of this Constitution and thereafter, every five years, Parliament shall review the representation under clause (1)(b) and (c) of this article for the purposes of retaining, increasing or abolishing any such representation and any other matter incidental to it. The representatives referred to in clause (1)(a) of this article shall be elected on the basis of universal adult suffrage and by secret ballot. Parliament shall, by law, prescribe the procedure for elections of representatives referred to in clause (1)(b) and (c) of this article.’

It added: ‘Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, Parliament shall have power to make laws on any matter for the peace, order, development and good governance of Uganda. Except as provided in this Constitution, no person or body other than Parliament shall have power to make provisions having the force of law in Uganda except under authority conferred by an Act of Parliament. Parliament shall protect this Constitution and promote the democratic governance of Uganda.’”