Nsibambi – Speaker of Parliament Should Not Be an MP

Sheila Naturinda and Isaac Imaka

24 June 2011

The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of Parliament should resign their constituency seats, Prof. Apolo Nsibambi has said. The former Prime Minister also wants an independent body to determine the emoluments, pension and gratuity of MPs and other members of the Executive and Judiciary.

Speaking on the relationship between Parliament and the other arms of the state at the ongoing post-election induction of MPs, Prof. Nsibambi said a harmonious relationship between all the arms of government is fundamental in enhancing good governance.

He called for a constitutional amendment that would require the Speaker and Deputy Speaker to cease being MPs, “because of the political witchhunt which follows them when they return to the constituency”.

The former premier said having constituencies while holding the speakership puts the two top officials at a disadvantage as they do not get time for their electorate like other MPs. “It should also be possible to elect a Speaker from outside Parliament,” he added.

Kenyan experience

Speaker Emeritus of the Kenya Parliament, Francis Ole Kapalo, made a similar recommendation last Monday. In Kenya, once a Speaker is elected, he ceases being an elected MP to concentrate on parliamentary duties.

Prof. Nsibambi also advised government to revisit a recommendation by the Ssempebwa Constitutional Review Commission to have an independent body to set and determine the emoluments of parliamentarians rather than the MPs setting their own salaries and allowances.

“I’ve sadly noted that whenever Parliament determines its emoluments, gratuity and pension, it is bashed by the media and the general public calling us greedy, hungry and opportunistic.

“I suggest that an independent body be established to determine the emoluments, pension and gratuity of all arms of the state,” he said.

Prof. Nsibambi, who served as Prime Minister for 12 years, also called on political and public servants to readily give information to the media to enable them play their watchdog role.

He said any Bill or resolution making a charge on the Consolidated Fund should only be moved by the government. He repeated his argument that quorum in Parliament be reduced from 33 per cent to 20 per cent to enable the smooth passing of legislative business.

Many MPs, however, rejected the quorum proposal, with some saying the minimum numbers be increased to avoid manipulation by the Executive.

“The proposed 20 per cent is the same number like Cabinet. It means Cabinet will walk into Parliament and pass a law. We can’t accept such to happen,” said Mr John Mulimba (Samia-Bugwe North).

Prof. Nsibambi, who once served as Education minister, also recommended that the Speaker disallows motions that promise to increase teachers’ salaries, unless they have gone through Cabinet.

Discussing Prof. Nsibambi’s paper, Dr Golooba- Mutebi, a political scientist and senior research fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research, Makerere University, agreed with the call for an independent body to set salary levels and called the act of MPs setting their own emoluments “the worst form of self- interest behaviour”.

But Dr Mutebi disagreed with the proposal of reducing House quorum, saying a reduced quorum would be more dangerous “because the Executive would manipulate those few numbers to pass their controversial positions, which aren’t pro-people”.

‘Rebel’ debate

To fight the issue of ‘party rebels’, the former premier proposed an amendment in Article 83 of the Constitution – which concerns the tenure of office of MPs – so that indisciplined members who are thrown out of their parties, cease to be legislators.

However, Dr Mutebi also disagreed, saying every organisation needs such people “because they could be right while the majority caucus members are wrong”.

Dr Mutebi said: “It is not right to expel a member from Parliament yet he was elected by the people but not by the party. Maybe we change the voting so that MPs represent the party first.”

Prof. Nsibambi said having counselled a few of the ‘rebel’ MPs, he found out that a few of them had personal grievances hence taking on dissenting views, “to punish the President for unfulfilled promises to some of them”.

“Government should always have intermediate sanctions such as withholding party funds from indisciplined NRM members of Parliament and suspending them from attending at least three or more caucus sittings,” he said.

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