The Member of Parliament representing Rushenyi County Rushenyi County, Naome Kabasharira has called for the downsizing of Parliament saying the current numbers of MPs are too many for the country to manage.
In her submission during Thursday Parliament sitting, Kabasharira urged fellow MPs to back her proposal saying the move won’t affect the current MPs but rather those seeking to join the other Parliaments.
She lashed out at the Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Thomas Tayebwa, who chaired the sitting, wondering why it has taken the Attorney General, Kiwanuka Kiryowa over a year to review and offer guidance to her petition.
“Last year, I brought a motion to your office and you willingly received it, and I was given a letter from your office that it was sent to the Attorney General to guide. The motion was to downsize this Parliament.
How long does the Attorney General take to reply such a small thing and he is the only one we can rely on? And downsizing will not be you people, it will be those who are coming, you will not be affected. We need to downsize, we are too many for the country,” noted Kabasharira.
The current Parliament has 556 Members and is one of the biggest in the world. There have been voices calling for its downsizing because it is too expensive to maintain especially now that the country is debt burden and revenue sources continue to dwindle.
The composition of the Ugandan Parliament, Article 78 (1) of the Constitution, includes MPs directly elected to represent constituencies, one woman representing a district, army representatives, youth representative, workers representatives, elderly persons, persons with disabilities and other groups as Parliament may determine.
