Africa-Press – Uganda. Erute South MP Jonathan Odur on Monday broke ranks with fellow opposition legislators to table a scathing Minority Report against the Political Parties and Organisations (Amendment) Bill, 2025, describing it as unconstitutional and procedurally flawed.
Odur, a vocal legal mind and member of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, presented the report during a tense plenary session that saw most opposition MPs walk out in protest over what they termed a farcical debate on both the UPDF Bill and the IPOD Bill. But Odur remained behind, determined to enter his dissent on record.
“The Bill violates Article 93 of the Constitution. It seeks to impose a charge on the Consolidated Fund, something a private member’s bill has no authority to do,” he said, pointing out that the proposed institutionalisation of the Inter-Party Organisation for Dialogue (IPOD) would require public funds to operate—a mandate strictly reserved for the Executive.
Odur was joined by over 30 MPs in signing the Minority Report, which cautioned that Parliament was overstepping its constitutional bounds by entertaining a privately sponsored law that essentially creates a new government agency.
The report argued that making IPOD a statutory organ would confer on it financial legitimacy and governance powers that Parliament is not constitutionally empowered to grant without Executive backing.
In its current form, the Bill proposes two arms under the National Consultative Forum: one for parties represented in Parliament, and another for those outside.
Odur warned that this structure not only imposes a financial burden but duplicates existing constitutional entities such as the Electoral Commission, which already regulates political party conduct.
The Minority Report called on the House to reject the Bill outright, warning that it sets a dangerous precedent of using legislative backdoors to smuggle unfunded mandates into law.
“Parliament must resist being used as a platform to elevate pet projects into national institutions without proper legal foundation,” the report states.
Odur’s defiance won praise from some corners of civil society who had criticised the Bill’s rushed processing.
The Order Paper for its first reading was released just one day before the Bill was tabled, raising questions about transparency and due process.
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