The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee is set to scrutinize recommendations in the European Union (EU) Election Observation Report on the February 2016 general elections.
The Speaker, Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga made this revelation while receiving the report from the EU Election Chief Observer, Mr Eduard Kukan, on Wednesday, 20th April 2016.
Kadaga said; “Unlike in the past when we handed over the 2011 EU Report to government and nothing was done, we shall hand this one to our committees. The Legal Committee will peruse it and present a report to the House accordingly.”
Addressing the issue of Parliament’s delay in debating the electoral reforms, the Speaker said it was due to the government’s slow pace in submitting the bills to the legislature.
“It took government four years to come back to us. I asked them for all this time and they came at the very last minute,” she added.
Mr Kukan said that the Report contains recommendations some of which if implemented will lead to the amendment of the Constitution.
“There are 11 keys recommendations in this report. We shall appreciate if you looked at them seriously,” Kukan said.
The Observer Mission Report recommends the amendment of the Constitution to scrap the academic requirement of A ‘level for parliamentary candidates. The observers also note that there is need to remove the requirement for resignation from public office 90 days before the date of nomination for general elections.
The team also calls for the removal of the army, youth and workers representatives from Parliament because these do not suffer any discrimination.
The Government of Uganda invited the European Union to observe the February 2016 general elections. The EU then established the Electoral Observation Mission which comprised of a core team from EU Member states led by Mr Eduard Kukan, a Member of the European Parliament from Slovakia.