The European Union Election Observers spent the better of Wednesday at the Ugandan Parliament assessing the performance of the institution and the government entities in general. And when the team met the speaker Rebecca, the issue of electoral reforms became the main agenda of their discussion. “Share with us what happened during those 2 years since we visited you last time whether you think that some of those recommendations can be implemented. And if yes, what would be the timeframe for that?” but to Speaker Kadaga, the government seems to have lost interest in having the necessary electoral reforms ahead of the next general election. “No serious step has been taken by the government to bring any reforms. We have been told casually on the floor of the house that instead of the reforms coming immediately, there would be a Constitutional Review Commission and some names have been submitted to the President but I don’t believe whether the government is interested in electoral reforms. And I think they would want to do what they do as usual to stampede the house.” Said, Rebecca Kadaga – Speaker of Parliament.

Asked about the immediate reforms that are required ahead of the next general election, the Speaker said “I think we need to regulate the campaign financing then the determination of the electoral areas. So we need to address the issue of the voter register and the issue of the polling stations especially the time for display of the voters register usually the time given is so little.” Kadaga was also tasked to explain why there was an attack on Members of Parliament during the debate on the controversial amendment of 2017. “For us, it was the first time to fight in the level of this Parliament but I know that there have been skirmishes in the Turkish Parliament, there had been skirmishes in many other Parliaments in South Africa, it’s a weakly think and it is not exactly unique but it happened. Just say, before that we were okay.”