Ezrah Kashumbusha.
KAMPALA, November 6th, 2024 | A legal battle is brewing in Uganda as city lawyer Peter Magelah Gwayaka, along with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) Alliance for Finance Monitoring and Walezi Wa Katiba Foundation, have filed a petition before the Constitutional Court. The petition targets both the Attorney General and Uganda’s Electoral Commission, challenging the representation of city women in the country’s parliament.
The crux of the petition lies in the contention that the legislative role of city women representatives is non-existent and unconstitutional. The petitioners argue that the creation of additional constituencies out of cities by Parliament and the Electoral Commission in 2020, more than 12 months after the national population census publication in 2016, violates constitutional provisions.
According to the petitioners, cities and municipalities were established by the government under the Local Governments Act for the purposes of local administration and service delivery, not for parliamentary representation. As such, they seek an order prohibiting the Electoral Commission from conducting elections for city women representatives.
Alliance for Finance Monitoring executive director, Henry Muguzi, asserts in a sworn statement that the Ugandan constitution explicitly refers to one woman representative per district, not per city. He emphasizes that the framers of the constitution intended for district-level representation, not representation based on cities.
Muguzi contends that conducting elections for city women representatives without amending the Parliamentary Elections Act to include such provisions is null and void, as it contravenes the constitution’s stipulations. He highlights the supremacy of the constitution, stating that no act or law can supersede its provisions.
