Over 250 NRM MPs Eye 3 Parliamentary Commissioner Slots

The tenure of the current backbench Parliamentary Commissioners will soon come to an end this December.

This has set the ground rolling as Members of Parliament gear up to take up the prestigious offices of the highest decision making organ at Parliament. 

Recently, the Clerk to Parliament, who is also the secretary of the commission informed MPs of the expiry of tenure of the current commissioners and urged party whips to embark on the process of nominating new commissioners where the NRM ruling party will take up 3 slots and 1 slot is for the opposition. 

By Friday last week, more than 250 NRM MPs had expressed interest to the Office of the Government Chief Whip for the 3 slots. 

The names are expected to be submitted to the NRM Central Executive Committee (CEC) for vetting before the NRM caucus sits to elect their new commissioners. 

Initially, commissioners were appointed by CEC before NRM caucus rejected the move and demanded that they are elected for effective leadership accountability.

The current commissioners on the NRM side are Prossy Akampurira (Rubanda District), Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central) and Esther Afoyochan (Zombo District).

In 2021, the Opposition side appointed Francis Zaake (Mityana Municipality) as their commissioner but the position remained vacant when he was impeached by the House in March last year for misconduct and misbehavior. 

It remains unclear who will take up the Opposition's slot with the likes of Joel Ssenyonyi, Medard Ssegonna, John Baptist Nambeshe, Joyce Bagala and Shamim Malende all eyeing the position. 

Rule 11 of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure states the composition of the Commission to include the Speaker, who shall be Chairperson;
the Deputy Speaker; the Leader of Government Business or his or her nominee; the Minister holding the Portfolio of Finance; the Leader of Opposition or his or her nominee; and four Members of Parliament one of whom shall come from the opposition and none of whom shall be a Minister.

Rule 11(6) says the four backbench commissioners shall hold office for two and a half years and shall be eligible for re-election.