Parliament of Uganda History

Parliament of Uganda History

First elements of a legislative organ can be traced as far back as the turn of the century, when in 1888 the then Imperial British East African Company started some kind of administration in Uganda. Although this company was a private one, its charter authorized it, inter alia, ‘To undertake the duties of general administration, imposition and collection of taxes and administration of justice in areas under its control’.

There is no doubt that in doing this the company acted as the agent and for the benefit of the British Crown. Hence the first traces of legislation were manifested in the various pieces of regulations passed by the company.

The year 1902 marked a very important landmark. In that year an Order-in-Council was passed; and under this ordinance new provisions for the administration of Uganda were made. It also designated an official responsible for administration; the Commissioner. Article 12 of the ordinance empowered the Commissioner to make ordinances for the administration of justice, raising of revenues and generally for the peace, order and good government of all persons in Uganda.

In effect, the 1902 ordinance established a system of legislation through the promulgation of personal decrees by the representatives of the British Crown, namely the Commissioner. This system continued up to 1920.

In 1920 another order in council was promulgated. It made provision for yet another important landmark in the legislative development of Uganda. A legislative body was created and it designated its own membership. The body was to be called the Legislative Council, otherwise known as the LEGCO. At the time all its members, seven in number, were to be Europeans. These were; The Governor, Sir Robert Coryndon who was the President of the Council. The other official members were the Chief Secretary, Mr. E.B. Jarvis; the Acting Attorney General, Mr. A.B. Howes; the Treasurer, Mr. A.E. Boory; and the Principal Medical Officer, Dr. C.A. Wiggins. There were also two unofficial. Mr. E.H. Levis and Mr. W.S. Garnhem (who was deputizing for Dr. H.H. Hunter). The Council first met on 23rd March, 1921, in the High Court Chambers, then at Entebbe. Later meetings were held in the Library of the Chief Secretary’s Office. Henceforth personal decrees ceased and laws were made by the Governor, assisted by the Council; which consisted of officials.

From then onwards there began to occur changes in the composition of this body. On the 26th May, 1926 the first Asian, Mr. Chrunabai Jekabhai Amin, was sworn in as a member of the Council. It was indeed a step in the direction of still closer co-operation in the furtherance of the interests of the Protectorate as a whole.

These developments continues such that by 1945 the council was composed of Europeans, the Asians and Africans. On October 23, 1945 the Governor, Sir John Hall, announced that the Secretary of State for the Colonies had approved a scheme for the nomination of three African Members of the Legislative council, representing Buganda; Eastern and Western Provinces. Because of the need to select persons of experience and standing, the representative of Buganda was to be a Minister nominated by the Kabaka; the representative of the Western Province was normally to be, in rotation, the Prime Ministers of Bunyoro, Toro and Ankole; while the representative of Eastern Province was to be, again, in rotation, the Secretaries – General of Busoga, Bukedi and Teso.

On the 4th December, 1945, the first Africans to join the LEGCO were sworn in. They were; Michael Earnest Kawalya Kaggwa, Petero Nyangabyaki and Yekonia Zirabamuzaale. They were respectively, the Katikkiro of Buganda; Katikkiro of Bunyoro; and the Secretary General of Busoga. However, elections to the council were still by indirect method. In 1946, an additional European and Asian Representative Member was appointed while the first unofficial Member of the Executive Council was appointed -Mr. H.K. Jaffer, the Senior Member of the unofficial side of the Legislative Council.

Three years later, the Northern province was reconstituted and allowed its own representative in the House. This meant that there were now four Africans; three Europeans and three Asians on the unofficial benches. By 1955 the membership of the council had increased to 60 and its meetings used to be held in Kampala City Council Chambers.

In the late 1950s pressure continued to mount for self-government in the Protectorate as a whole. This led to a series of constitutional changes, notable among these, were the changes in the electoral law which brought about the introduction of a common roll provided for direct elections and increased once again the membership of the legislature. all these culminated in the holding of the first ever direct elections for the greater part of the Protectorate in 1961, under the new Franchise law.

This election returned an African majority into the Legislative council. The Democratic Party (DP) led by Ben Kiwanuka, formed the majority party while the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC), led by Apollo Milton Obote, formed the opposition.

This new Council met for the first time on the 17th April, with Sir John Bowes Griffin as the first Speaker. Earlier, on the 15th September, 1960, the Governor Sir Fredrick Crawford had issued a Proclamation to the effect that from the 19th September, 1960, all LEGCO meetings would be held in the present Parliamentary Buildings.

In 1962, General Elections were held. The Uganda People Congress (UPC) led by A.M. Obote won with 37 seats as against 24 for the Democratic Party (DP) excluding Buganda. Buganda region had opted for indirect election, hence its Lukiiko nominated 21 representatives to the National Assembly. The Buganda representatives struck an alliance with the UPC known as UPC/KY Alliance which gave it the necessary strength to form a coalition government with A.M. Obote as the Prime Minister and DP led by Ben Kiwanuka in opposition.

This was the Government that was to receive the instruments of Independence on the 9th October, 1962. Under the Independence Constitution of 1962, the First Parliament of Uganda, the National Assembly was partly elected and partly nominated. The Buganda representatives were to continue to be indirectly elected by the Lukiiko. The Independence Constitution distributed the legislative powers. It conferred certain powers to the federal governments such as the power to legislate on offices of rulers, their powers, obligations and duties, etc.

The bulk of legislative powers was reserved for the Central Government. This situation continued until May, 1966, when the Independence Constitution was abrogated; and an interim one was introduced, pending promulgation of a Republican Constitution.

In 1967, a Republican constitution came into force. It maintained a multi-party system of Government. The Constitution stipulated that after a general election, the Party with greatest numerical strength of the elected members would form the government. Further, under the Constitution, members of the national Assembly were deemed to have been elected for another term of five years.

Parliament under the Republican Constitution, was the Second Parliament of Uganda. The elections provided for under this new Constitution were never held due to the military coup which took place in January 1971. From 1971 to 1979 the Uganda Parliament was in abeyance.

Following the overthrow of the military regime in 1979, Uganda got an Interim Parliament known as the National Consultative Council. It was initially composed of 30 members who were elected at Moshi, Tanzania, but was later in 1979 expanded to 120 members. The Interim Parliament continued to be the Supreme Legislative Body until the general elections that were held in 1980. This, was the Third Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.

The controversial general elections held in December, 1980 brought the UPC into power while the DP went into opposition.

This was the Fourth Parliament of Uganda. The UPC Government was overthrown on the 27th July, 1985 in a Military Coup led by the Generals Tito Okello and Bazilio Okello. Once again Parliament went into abeyance. The regime led by the Generals did not last long. On 26th January, 1986, the National Resistance Movement came to power following the capture of Kampala by the National Resistance Army. The Legal Notice No. 1 of 1986, which established the legality of the NRM Government vested the legislative powers in the National Resistance council and the President.

The NRC at the time consisted of 38 Historical Members of the National Resistance Movement/National Resistance Army. It, the NRC, was the Fifth Parliament of the Republic of Uganda. February, 1989, except in the District of Gulu, country-wide elections were held to expand the National Resistance Council. When finally, elections were held in Gulu District, the NRC was expanded to a membership of 270, broken down as follows:

1. 38 Historical Members;
2. 149 County Representatives;
3. 19 City/Municipal Council Representatives;
4. 20 Nominated Members;
5. 34 District Women Representatives.

Later the NRC continued to expand with the creation of 4 districts namely; Kisoro, Pallisa, Kiboga and Kibaale on 15th March 1991 and Ntungamo on 5th May 1993 which necessitated election of additional 5 Women Representatives to the Council. Still later, the Youth and Workers brought in five and three Representatives respectively.

In 1988, the NRC passed a Constitutional Commission Statute which created the Constitutional Commission comprising 21 Commissioners, whose functions were outlined as follows:-

1. to study and review the Constitution with a view to making proposals for the enactment of a national Constitution that would, inter alia;
   1. guarantee the national independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Uganda;
   2. establish a free and democratic system of Government that would guarantee the fundamental rights and freedoms of the people of Uganda;
   3. Create viable political institutions that would ensure maximum consensus and orderly succession to Government;
   4. recognize and demarcate division of responsibility among the State Organs of the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary and create viable checks and balances between them;
   5. endeavor to develop a system of Government that would ensure people’s participation in the governance of their country;
   6. endeavor to develop a democratic, free and fair electoral system that would ensure true people’s representation in the legislature and at other levels;
   7. establish and uphold the principal of public accountability by the holders of public offices and political posts and;
   8. guarantee the independence of the Judiciary;
2. formulate and structure a draft Constitution that would form the basis for the country’s new national Constitution. 5 (1) For the purposes of carrying out its functions under this Statute, the Commission would do all such acts as were necessary for the carrying out of the said functions and in particular;
   1. Would seek the views of the general public through the holding of public meetings and debates, seminars, workshops and any other form of collecting public views;
   2. Would stimulate public discussions and awareness of Constitutional issues.
   3. Would produce any document or thing that would be considered relevant to the functions of the Commission; and
   4. Would form such committees as the Commission would deem necessary for the better carrying out of its functions.

The Commission presented a Draft Constitution in December 1993 to H.E. the President on behalf of Government and this was to be the document from which a new Constitution was to emerge. In 1993, the NRC passed the Constituent Assembly (Statute) providing for elections to the Constituent Assembly in March 1994 to be organised and conducted by an Interim Electoral Commission established by the same law.

The Constituent Assembly was mandated by the Constituent Assembly Statute to:

1. to scrutinize, debate and prepare a final draft of the constitutional text prepared and submitted to the Minister by the Uganda Constitutional Commission under the provisions of subsection (6) of section 6 of the Uganda Constitutional Commission Statute,1988, and
2. to enact and promulgate a new Constitution of the Republic of Uganda. The Constituent Assembly accomplished its work and on 8th October, 1995 a new Constitution of Uganda was promulgated.

A new Interim Electoral Commission was constituted under the provisions of the Interim Electoral Commission Statute, 1995. In accordance with the provisions of the new Constitution, the Interim Electoral Commission organized and conducted the first ever direct Presidential elections in the country on 7th May 1996 and the President elected was sworn in on the 12th May 1996.

Soon after conclusion of the Presidential elections, the Interim Electoral Commission embarked on the organization and conduct of parliamentary elections which ushered in the Sixth Parliament of Uganda.