Who is the next Commissioner of Parliament

The contest for the back bench Commissioner of the twelfth Parliament is boiling uncovered with the leading opposition political party dubbed the National Unity Platform party determined to front a senior lawmaker from the Eastern Uganda.

Several political pundits say the NUP will this time around bow down to public opinion and decentralize its big parliamentary positions to lawmakers from the Easter region especially Busoga sub region.

Basing on the above factors, the race for commissioner of parliament zeroes down on two senior parliamentarians from NUP and these are the Manjiya County MP John Baptist Nambeshe and the Kigulu South MP Andrew Kiiza Kaluya. Nambeshe serves as the NUP Deputy President for Eastern Uganda while Andrew Kiiza Kaluya is the Secretary for Mobilization in charge of Eastern Uganda.

The two senior lawmakers have previously served in the tenth parliament which is famed for the passage of the age limit Bill which the duo strongly opposed despite being MPs of the ruling NRM party. The duo fell out with the Kyadondo road based party and Kaluya was eventually strangled by the regime and he lost in 2021, though Nambeshe was able to return to the eleventh parliament.

As it stands

Apparently, Nambeshe has underperformed in his party portfolio despite occupying it for six consecutive years now. Even though the party gets candidates in Bugisu sub region where he hails from, he has not been able to secure a single legislative seat for the party. On the other hand, Andrew Kiiza Kaluya, a new entrant to the party has been able to secure eight seats in Busoga sub region, which elevates his odds within the ranks of Kavule and some sources in the party say he has over shined his superior, Nambeshe in as far as delivering for the party is concerned. Nambeshe’s inactiveness in the party renders him unfit to occupy the commission seat. He has failed to blend into the politics of NUP and has maintained the old school demeanor of counting on his seniority and longevity as a key factor to be rewarded. His docility is one of the key attributes that discouraged Kavule from appointing him as the Leader of the Opposition when the party cut ties with Mathias Mpuuga Nsamba.

To be continued in Episode II