By Our Reporter
Drama unfolded in Parliament on Wednesday as Lira City East Division MP Jimmy Akena clashed with Napak District Woman MP Faith Nakut over the spirit and intent behind her proposed amendments to the Political Parties and Organisations Act, 2025.
Nakut, who had just been granted leave on Tuesday to draft and introduce a private member’s bill, surprised lawmakers by returning to the House barely 24 hours later with the draft legislation. To the shock of many, particularly opposition MPs, she had also already secured a Certificate of Financial Implication (CFI) from the Ministry of Finance—something that often delays or derails similar private member’s bills.
After the Bill was referred to the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs for further scrutiny, Akena—who also serves as President of the opposition Uganda People’s Congress (UPC)—rose to lay before Parliament a letter he had recently written. He claimed that the Bill aimed to “unfairly” undermine a request he had made to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, calling for a dialogue between political parties represented in Parliament and the Electoral Commission.
“We are not going to tolerate this nonsense that undermines the principles of democracy,” Akena declared passionately. “Section 14(a) of the Political Parties and Organisations Act—what we are doing now and what was done yesterday—is diabolical. This deliberate undermining is something I cannot let go unchallenged. What you are doing is wrong, and history will judge you accordingly.”
Nakut’s Controversial Proposals
Nakut’s Bill seeks to formalize the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) within the Political Parties and Organisations Act. If passed, only political parties with elected MPs that are members of IPOD—and, by extension, the National Consultative Forum—would be eligible to receive government funding through the Electoral Commission.
“The object of the Bill is to amend the Political Parties and Organisations Act, Cap. 178, to restrict government funding and other public resources to only those political parties and organisations that are members of the National Consultative Forum,” Nakut stated in the Bill’s objective.
Clause 2 of the Bill proposes to amend Section 14 of the Act by granting the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs the authority to, by statutory instrument, prescribe the procedures for joining or withdrawing from the National Consultative Forum.
Clause 3 seeks to insert a new section after Section 21, outlining the functions of IPOD. These include:
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Promoting inter-party dialogue to strengthen democratic governance,
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Facilitating open communication between political parties represented in Parliament,
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Advising the government on policy development and fostering a democratic environment, and
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Providing a neutral platform for engagement among parties of varying ideologies.
Opposition Skepticism
The Bill has drawn criticism from the opposition, particularly from the National Unity Platform (NUP), which has for years declined to join IPOD. NUP members neither attend Council meetings nor participate in IPOD summits, citing the government’s poor human rights record. Despite this, the party receives the second-highest allocation of political party funding from the Electoral Commission.
NUP’s stance mirrors that of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC), which has also boycotted IPOD summits, arguing that meaningful dialogue is impossible while political space continues to shrink under President Yoweri Museveni’s rule.
Critics believe the Bill is a veiled attempt by the government—pushed through a private member’s initiative—to compel dialogue among political parties, potentially stifling dissenting voices ahead of the 2026 general elections.
“If this Bill is passed, Parliament will have played a major role in antagonizing political parties and organisations,” Akena warned. “Even if this Bill becomes law, how will it be implemented when the national budget is already in place? This kind of democratic subversion cannot be accepted in Uganda.”
Visibly emotional, Akena—who recently announced he would not seek re-election to the 12th Parliament—rejected Speaker Anita Among’s pleas for him to remain calm.
“When my country is heading toward chaos ahead of the elections, I cannot stay calm,” said Akena, who is preparing to contest for the presidency on the UPC ticket later this year.
Mpuuga’s Countermove
In a parallel development, former Leader of Opposition in Parliament Mathias Mpuuga also sought leave of Parliament to introduce a separate Bill to amend the same Act.
Mpuuga, the MP for Nyendo–Mukungwe and a Parliamentary Commissioner, questioned the speed at which Nakut’s Bill was processed—especially when his own request, filed months earlier, had yet to be accorded similar urgency.
Mpuuga’s proposed reforms go beyond the Political Parties and Organisations Act to also include amendments to the Presidential Elections Act, the Parliamentary Elections Act, the Electoral Commission Act, and the Local Governments Act. These reforms aim to overhaul Uganda’s electoral framework before the 2026 general elections.
Specifically, Mpuuga proposes that Section 17 of the Political Parties Act be replaced to allow for the legal merger of political parties through a formal, written agreement deposited with the Electoral Commission. He also wants Section 18 amended to legally permit political coalitions—something currently not recognized under Uganda’s electoral laws.
Efforts by opposition parties to form coalitions against President Museveni have historically failed, most recently in 2015, due to disagreements and the absence of a legal framework to support such coalitions.
Now that Parliament has granted him leave, Mpuuga must work with the Office of the Clerk to finalize the drafting of his Bill and secure a Certificate of Financial Implication from the Ministry of Finance before tabling it for first reading.
