Uganda parliaments since independence
Lydia Namubiru, Newvision
SINCE independence 47 years ago, Uganda has had a total of 1,608 MPs who drafted the laws by which the country is run today.
Research carried out by Sunday Vision established that some MPs served more than one term in Parliament, while others were for one reason or another replaced before completing their term. Then there are those who were not returned.
The 1,608 figure includes MPs who have served in several parliaments. They were treated as new MPs each time they made it back to Parliament.
The MPs have constituted eight parliaments and served under four constitutions.
However, they worked with only six of the eight heads of state who steered Uganda through its turbulent journey that started on October 9, 1962.
While Idi Amin ruled by decree, having suspended the Constitution and Parliament, he had a defence council which sometimes acted as a legislative arm.
Tito Okello Lutwa, who ruled for only six months in 1985-1986, had no Parliament either.
Over the years, the number of MPs in the House has multiplied more than fourfold, from 80 in the 1962 National Assembly to 332 members in the current Parliament.
The country’s population has also grown, from 6.5 million in 1962 to the current estimated 31 million.
The nine heads of state had about 200 cabinet ministers, excluding their deputies and ministers of state.
The size of the cabinet has also grown over the years, although not as drastically as the number of legislators. The first Obote cabinet had 16 ministers.
This had grown to 26 by 1980. Museveni’s first cabinet in 1986 comprised 30 full ministers, but was later cut down to 20 before going up again to the current 26.
The first Parliament of independent Uganda, called the National Assembly, was partly elected and partly nominated. In the general elections held in early 1962, the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) won 37 of the 91 available seats, while DP got 24 seats.
The Buganda Lukiiko (parliament) nominated 21 members to represent the kingdom in the assembly. Nine members were elected to represent other interest groups.
At the final count, the assembly had 86 members as five seats were left vacant. The same members constituted the Constituent Assembly in 1967 to write and adopt the Republican Constitution.
This replaced the interim 1966 constitution, famously known as the ‘Pigeonhole Constitution’.
The 1967 National Assembly, Uganda’s second Parliament, featured all members of the previous one, save for three UPC members who had been detained by the Government for engineering a vote-of-no-confidence against then prime minister Milton Obote.
The second Parliament served until January 1971, when Idi Amin overthrew Obote’s government and suspended Parliament.
The third Parliament followed the 1979 overthrow of Amin and was called the National Consultative Council (NCC).
Initially, it was made up of 30 members, but it later expanded to 120 and eventually 127 members.
It served Yusuf Lule’s government, which lasted only 68 days, Godfrey Binaisa’s, which lasted 11 months, and Paulo Muwanga’s Military Commission, which conducted the controversial 1980 elections.
Despite having served three heads of state, it remains the shortest Parliament in Uganda’s history, lasting for only nine months.
The controversial 1980 elections gave birth to the fourth Parliament of Uganda with 126 members, 72 of whom were from UPC. It served until 1985 when Obote was overthrown by Tito Okello Lutwa. Lutwa’s short-lived regime had not established a Parliament at the time it was overthrown in January 1986 by Yoweri Museveni’s National Resistance Army.
The NRM Government upon taking power established the National Resistance Council (NRC) as the legislative body. From 38 members, it grew to 273 members at the time of making the fourth constitution in 1994.
Under that Constitution, two more parliaments were elected through universal adult suffrage. The sixth and seventh Parliament had 276 members each, while the current eighth Parliament has 332.
Cuthbert Obwangor is recorded as the longest serving Ugandan MP. Having served nine years in the first and second parliaments, he also served eight more years as a member of the NRC.
The first Ugandan Woman MP was F. A. Lubega. She was nominated in 1962 and represented Singo North West in the first National Assembly.
Published on: Saturday, 10th October, 2009, www.sundayvision.co.ug
