President Museveni last week laid out the Executive’s legislative agenda for the Financial Year (FY) 2026/2027 while delivering his latest State-of-the-Nation-Address (Sona).
The legislative agenda’s phalanges stretch out wide, touching a vast array of sectors such as education, agriculture, health, transport, finance, internal security, housing, as well as information and communications.
The transparency from the Executive branch of government, whose members were sworn into their respective offices on Monday, should be broadly welcomed. Just as welcome, will be giving the legislative branch of government carte blanche to exercise, among others, its oversight role.
There is evidence indicative of just how the 11th Parliament was an appendage of what, by all accounts, is an imperial presidency.
While not outrightly detrimental, having the Executive and the Legislature singing from the same hymn book limits options and rarely in ways that make the rule of law-a foundational governance principle-robust.
Friction between the two branches of government is absolutely necessary to lubricate democracy.
Lawmakers from the ruling NRM party, which has an eye-wateringly big majority in the 12th Parliament, should not be jolted out of their slumber to vote at the behest of and summarily do Mr Museveni’s bidding.
The 11th Parliament basked in the glory of the sheer number of legislations it passed. A cursory glance returns the verdict that the numbers were, in a word, staggering.
Look deeper, though, and you will notice that most, if not all, of the legislations were, however, regressive.
The 12th Parliament should not continue in the same vein. Qualitative output must trump the quantitative output that the 11th Parliament so cherished.
This desired outcome can only see the light of day if lawmakers-the vast bulk of whom are wet behind their ears-do their homework. Research has to be prioritised.
We will particularly be interested in how the House handles the Information and Communication Bill, 2023. It is easy to see why-we have our roots planted in the information economy.
When the Bill was first proffered, the Executive rationalised that its legislative framework is needed to regulate digital business operations while making cybersecurity and data privacy controls more vigorous.
It was also said that the Bill will come with regulatory consolidation, bringing regulatory bodies like the Uganda Communications Commission, the Media Council, and the National Information Technology Authority, as well as their attendant laws under one tent.
Such an omnibus law will, in our assessment, require effective oversight. Short of that, the law will be weaponised with the regulation of digital operations turned into a political rather than crime-fighting practice.
Needless to say, the full rigour of parliamentary scrutiny will have to be of the essence. To be clear, this is not just for the Information and Communication Bill, 2023.
Lawmakers should not only ask questions but also question answers when the Real Estate Bill, 2025, the Food and Agriculture Regulatory Authority Bill, 2026, the Uganda Railways Bill, 2026, and others come up for debate.