The opposition’s long-standing struggle to translate its parliamentary minimal numbers into victories resurfaced once again during Monday’s Speaker elections for the 12th Parliament.
Despite rallying behind the National Unity Platform (NUP) candidate Paul Mwiru, the opposition parties once again failed to consolidate votes against the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM), whose candidate, Jacob Oboth Oboth, cruised to victory with 441 votes out of the 519 ballots counted.
Mr Mwiru garnered only 60 votes, while Democratic Party (DP) President Norbert Mao secured 15 votes, with three ballots spoiled.
This left their hopes of attracting support from some ruling NRM legislators and independents ultimately collapsed as Jacob Oboth Oboth secured a landslide victory.
It should be recalled that during the March 25, 2021, speakership elections for the 11th Parliament, the late Jacob Oulanyah won the speaker’s seat with 310 votes, defeating former Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who polled 197 votes, while Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju, the opposition candidate, managed only 15 votes despite the opposition having considerably higher numbers in the House.
After Oulanyah’s death due to a cancer battle, the former speaker Anita Annet Among won the 11th parliament speaker with 401 votes, defeating the opposition Assuman Basalirwa, who obtained 66 votes, the votes that were slightly fewer than the opposition MPs.
By then, the 11th Parliament, the NRM commanded 337 MPs, while NUP had 57 legislators, Independents 74, FDC 32, UPC 9, DP 9, and both JEEMA and PPP had one legislator each.
On Monday, the NRM has further strengthened its grip on following their victory by sweeping all positions, as the NRM candidate Thomas Tayebwa also won the deputy speaker seat with 457 votes, defeating Asinasi Nyakato of People’s Front for Freedom (PFF), who got 45, and Sarah Aguti of Uganda People’s Congress (UPC), who got 14 votes.
We (opposition) partially achieved – Nambeshe
Several opposition legislators who talked to Monitor on Monday acknowledged that although the opposition still faces internal cracks, they registered improvements in the speaker race compared to previous elections.
Mr John Baptist Nambeshe, the outgoing NUP opposition chief whip, said they have registered success, as NUP has 48 MPs, but 60 votes for Mwiru.
He said the party would have got more numbers, but at least the three opposition legislators who did attend the voting, like Geoffrey Sssazi, NUP Gomba East MP, David Serukenya, NUP Makindye Ssabagabo MP, and Mr Richard Ssebamala, the DP Bukoto South MP, Sssazi of Gomba East.
‘The opposition fraternity showed solidarity and unity during the elections. Our Official Opposition Candidate Mwiru garnered 60 votes, exceeding 48, which is our NUP composition in the 12th Parliament,’ Nambeshe explained.
Mr George Musisi, the NUP Kira Municipality MP, argued that opposition parties must stop pursuing individual political interests and instead unite around a common agenda capable of countering the NRM’s numerical dominance.
‘It will take a lot of consensus, engaging different members, though there are people who deliberately kill opposition unity as the politics of the day,’ Mr Musisi noted.
Mr Erias Luyimbaazi Nalukola, the NUP Kawempe North MP, warned that unless opposition parties close ranks and build stronger cooperation, future parliamentary contests will continue producing the same outcomes regardless of the official numbers on paper.
He urged opposition MPs to embrace unity, discipline, and collective bargaining in Parliament, saying fragmented politics only strengthens the ruling party’s hold on the House.
‘Speakership should not be something largely to do with a political party; it should be someone who will be presiding over parliamentary debates with impartiality and as a neutral arbiter,’ he said.
‘That neutral arbiter can come with a candidate from a political party that even has one MP, as long as other members have been persuaded, but in Uganda, we have not yet witnessed,’ he added.
The House has at least 372 NRM MPs, alongside 68 independents. NUP has 48 legislators, UPC 12, UPDF 10, FDC 9, DP 6, PFF 2, and ANT 1.