Mr Semuwemba:
You are serious a commentator but this time you let us down. MPs knew what they were getting into when Hon Otada speaking on behalf of the embattled appointments committee issued ultimatum to YKM.
If the MPs are so sure of their good deeds, they should resign at least from that Committee. So far no one has quit. We need to know the entire composition and fully, yes fully mock them. You bet the money they claim for sitting in that committee is too much for them to quit. MPs in Uganda put money above everything. They must have fought to get on that committee. Will they voluntarily quit?
Mr Semuwemba many of the MPs were rigged in with YKM’s help. Do you really expect them to bite the hand that gave them passage to 10 million monthly jobs? Former MPs in Uganda are literally grassing and the current chaps know that.
I will tell you what, some of the MPs are panicking that the IGG wil soon go after them. Stay tuned.
Please do not have any sympathy for MPs. Once again, who was it that let Justice Faith Mwondha keep two jobs? I told you that she is still a judge of the High court who will simply move back to the High Court for redeployment should the IGG thing elude her.
Who knows she may even end up on the anti-Corruption court where she would wield some real powers. MPs should be carefully what they wish for.
Yes, the case has ended up before the Constitutional Court. That is the favor the IGG has done the country. This may be the first case where the President has sworn an affidavit in case challenging the AG and Parliament so it is a big case.
You are wrong to argue that the AG’s opinion is supposed to be legally respected. The President has the legal right to refuse wrong legal advice from his or her AG. That is the case in this particular case.
This case is not about the powers of parliament to legislate. Actually the case is about constitutional interpretation which is why the IGG’s instance on going to the CC is the best solution. Let the Court determine.
I am going to differ with you and many others who have sided with parliament on this one. If you think hard and long, it is the IGG who has saved the country any crisis if you may call it that. MPs were interested in public show with their threats to resign until YKM told them to shut up. Why shut up? Because they had no clue what they were talking about.
Mr Semuwemba I hope you have not bought into the notion that Uganda’s parliament is right. It has been more wrong than right. Their batting average on serious constitutional cases is nil. Zip. Nada.! They have never gotten on base.
Now here is a question to ponder about: what should happen should the petitioners win their case before the CC and Supreme Court as the case will certainly be appealed there? We shall find out. As they say “eyewwa ezomumba…”
When this is done with, President Museveni should do Uganda a favor and hire himself a senior lawyer as his legal adviser instead of mediocre fresh graduates from law school who cannot advise him properly.
We are still waiting for sections of opposition to weigh in. What we know so far is that the Leader of opposition weighed and sided with parliament. He had to since he is one of the members of the appointments committee. Whether that is the FDC position remains to be seen. But weigh in they have to.
I bet you that by the time this interpretation is done, parliament would have lost not once but twice.Twice because the CC will not bring finality to the matter. That will have to be the Supreme Court of Uganda.
Parliaments acts on behalf of the executive so who will have to bring the motion to amend the constitution? A private member’s bill passage in Uganda or for that matter in any parliament is not simple. And even if the MPs were to somehow marshal enough votes to pass the private member’s bill, YKM will still have to have the final word. He is the only person who can sign bills into law.
The moral of this is that parliament cannot afford to antagonize other branches of the government. I suppose they are thinking along your lines that they dwarf other levels of govt. If that is the mentality, it is a wrong move.
I wonder whether picking confrontation on what looks so simply to rational Ugandans was worthy the fight? Was the re-appointment of the IGG such a big deal to warrant this?
Had Justice Mwondha served as IGG, then left for another stint to the Judiciary and re-appointed as IGG after being away for some time, I would understand. But the lady Justice’s term was extended or re-appointed. I guess lawyers will be arguing about the meaning of re-appointment or extension.
If the teachers whop taught Makerere University students cannot agree, one wonders what they are teaching their students then?
If parliament loses, then the AG, The Hon Speaker and all members of the appointments Committee must resign. No other way about it.
BTW, the IGG did not petition the CC. A group of 22 did under the leadership of EALA MP Ms Kawamara. The IGG only swore an affidavit.
That parliament has some very senior and bright lawyers but they all sat kimya as the appointments committee escalated the tempo. Where was Hon Kawanga’s voice? where was Hon Wacha’s voice? Where was Hon Erias Lukwago’s counsel? That is what happens when sober voices cede ground to non-experts.
Let the Courts decide. I suppose the case will be heard by a full slate of 5 judges not just 3, you tell us.
It is money for the smart legal folks in Kampala and I suspect all the big hitters will be on this one given the stakes. For parliament it is do or die literally. If they lose as I am projecting, kwisha which is why one wonders whether it was wise to grandstand on what seems obvious.
Smart people do not squander their political capital and credibility on easy cases. But we are talking about the 5million Ugandan parliament here.
WBK
DP Activisit residing in USA
