The May 25, 2025 election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament returned the Rt Hon Jacob Marksons Oboth and Rt Hon Thomas Tayebwa in those respective positions. With the change of leadership comes an opportunity for the leaders to implement their vision, and for the led to offer all necessary support and commitment to ensure they deliver their mandate.
This involves maintaining the good practices of old, but also offering a new paradigm to meet the needs of the universal consensus that the 12th Parliament ought to be better than the 11th.
This is not strange, it is the promise of governance and leadership – that the coming years are supposed to be better than the previous years, for that is the mark of positive change and progress.
The responsibility to mould good leaders is shared by the led too, and as Speaker Oboth Oboth said, a Speaker makes good MPs, and conversely MPs make a Speaker good.
There can only be one Speaker and one Deputy Speaker at a time as by law established, therefore; however, deserving another MP might think they are, it is best to work with and through the Speaker in order to deliver to the public expectations.
All MPs are leaders in their own right but they chose to have a leader of leaders among them. Parliament has, undeniably, had its fair share of bad press in the few days leading to the election, and this is about time we allow the Speaker the latitude to implement his vision, and the space to exercise his discretion and improve Parliament for the better.
It is important that the public is not quick to judge his methods and approach, because institutional building is a painstakingly incremental process which demands the input of everyone. With Speaker Oboth’s cool headed and open minded posture, it is undoubtedly clear that we shall get the Parliament everyone deserves.
The media and the public are called upon to play their watch dog role professionally, and everyone else needs to make their contribution to building a Parliament everyone can be proud.
With a new dispensation comes pressures exerted on the new leadership, most often with a mind on quick fixes, demanding of the leadership a kind of magic wand to instantly solve or wish away serious institutional challenges which never emerged in a short span in the first place.
It is critical that the leadership is given time to settle in, and the Speaker, in his inaugural address, already outlined his vision for Parliament, and deserves unconditional support in having it fully implemented and realised.
It is incumbent upon the institution’s stakeholders to stand out firmly in support of the new leadership, drop the partisanship, break away from negative forces that are ought to diminish and frustrate the new leadership. Instead, it is time to embrace the change at Parliament with an open heart and a mind slow to judgment, but most importantly, hands ready to offer assistance and support whenever sought.
Let discussion/dialogue be the dominant method of work away from hostile dependency, after all, democracy is mostly framed as a discussion itself.