Katikkiro Mayiga’s Interesting Proposal on Choosing Leader of Opposition in Uganda

Buganda Kingdom Katikkiro Charles Peter Mayiga has reminded Parliament of his proposal on choice of leader of opposition in Parliament as debate rages on amendments to change the manner in which the LOP is picked.

Currently, the biggest opposition party chooses an MP to become the LOP. In January 2024, Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine’s National Unity Platform (NUP) replaced Mathias Mpuuga, the Nyendo-Mukungwe MP, with Nakawa West’s Joel Ssenyonyi, also the party spokesperson, as LOP.

But last week, the speaker granted leave Richard Lumu, the Mityana South MP from the Democratic Paty, to introduce a private member’s bill, the administration of Parliament Bill 2024, in which he proposes that the leader of opposition be elected by all opposition MPs.

But the opposition parties have rejected the proposal. “The regime initially thought every Leader of the Opposition would be compromised and silenced. Faced with a new challenge, they now want to amend the law to have the LOP elected by the opposition MPs, at a time they believe they have effectively captured several parties in the ‘opposition,” noted NUP secretary general David Lewis Rubongoya.

“They believe they will be able to have their chosen ‘opposition leader’ who will tow the line. Sadly, but not surprising, they must handpick some ‘opposition’ MPs to spearhead the new scheme! What a country!“

Now, Katikkiro Mayiga, a lawyer by profession, has weighed in on the matter of choosing the Leader of Opposition in Parliament. His interesting view is not new for some in Parliament such as former leader of opposition Nandala Mafabi, now at the centre of a Museveni cash scandal in FDC. (See Details Here and There).

About 11 years ago, Mayiga proposed that the leader of opposition should be the leader or president of the main opposition political party – one that comes second to the winner of a presidential election.

That party leader should also automatically become a Member of Parliament (MP), the Buganda Kingdom Katikkiro further proposed.

“When I visited Parliament in 2013 during the Ettoffaali drive and met then Leader of Opposition (LOP), Nathan Nandala Mafabi, I suggested that the runner up in the presidential elections should automatically become LOP and Member of Parliament,” he recalled.

“Someone who gets the second highest number of votes should be the voice of those who didn’t elect the winning candidate, without going through someone else, with whom they may not have a smooth working relationship as we have seen many times. Now my MP knows my stand, if an amendment to the law is tabled in Parliament.”

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