PRIVILEGES and challenges await Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the new Leader of Opposition. Mafabi’s new assignment as opposition leader in Parliament is a juicy one.
Vision Reporter
Journalist @ New vision
PRIVILEGES and challenges await Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the new Leader of Opposition. Mafabi’s new assignment as opposition leader in Parliament is a juicy one.
PRIVILEGES and challenges await Nathan Nandala Mafabi, the new Leader of Opposition. Mafabi’s new assignment as opposition leader in Parliament is a juicy one.
According to the Administration of Parliament (amendment) Act, 2006, the leader of the opposition is equivalent to a Cabinet minister and is entitled to a chain of benefits.
Among the benefits Mafabi is entitled to are the two first class vehicles and Police guards. The two vehicles are not withstanding the Land Cruiser that will be given to him as a Member of Parliament. He is also entitled to sh14m given to each MP per month.
Other benefits are food for the family, rent, water, electricity and a chain of allowances which must be several times above the sh500,000 given to each of the shadow ministers per month.
The position of the Leader of the Opposition also gives Mafabi a rare chance of having the first priority to respond to any government statement in Parliament.
Mafabi was declared leader of opposition after outcompeting a chain of other potential big shots in his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
The potential candidates in the race included Dokolo woman MP Cecilia Ogwal, Bugweri County MP, Abdu Katuntu, Terego County MP, Kasiano Wadri and Soroti woman MP Alice Alaso.
Mafabi was reportedly appointed because of being consistent on issues which promote the interests of the party and the ordinary Ugandans.
In the 8th Parliament, he was the chairman of the parliamentary accounts committee, which grilled suspected corrupt officials.
He also defeated the Minister for Presidency, Beatrice Wabudeya, in the recently concluded elections.
To a person who nurses ambitions of becoming the President of FDC at the expiry of the term of the party’s current president, Mafabi has got a boost in his political career.
But despite the benefits, the outgoing Leader of Opposition, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, says the position comes with several challenges, which include being perceived as an enemy of the government.
Latigo noted that the legitimate criticisms which he made together with his team of the opposition MPs were always viewed as undermining the Government.
“We have been protesting against the extensive high fuel and food prices and we gave solutions, but they yielded nothing,†he said.
According to the Administration of Parliament (amendment) Act, 2006, the leader of the opposition is equivalent to a Cabinet minister and is entitled to a chain of benefits.
Among the benefits Mafabi is entitled to are the two first class vehicles and Police guards. The two vehicles are not withstanding the Land Cruiser that will be given to him as a Member of Parliament. He is also entitled to sh14m given to each MP per month.
Other benefits are food for the family, rent, water, electricity and a chain of allowances which must be several times above the sh500,000 given to each of the shadow ministers per month.
The position of the Leader of the Opposition also gives Mafabi a rare chance of having the first priority to respond to any government statement in Parliament.
Mafabi was declared leader of opposition after outcompeting a chain of other potential big shots in his Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party.
The potential candidates in the race included Dokolo woman MP Cecilia Ogwal, Bugweri County MP, Abdu Katuntu, Terego County MP, Kasiano Wadri and Soroti woman MP Alice Alaso.
Mafabi was reportedly appointed because of being consistent on issues which promote the interests of the party and the ordinary Ugandans.
In the 8th Parliament, he was the chairman of the parliamentary accounts committee, which grilled suspected corrupt officials.
He also defeated the Minister for Presidency, Beatrice Wabudeya, in the recently concluded elections.
To a person who nurses ambitions of becoming the President of FDC at the expiry of the term of the party’s current president, Mafabi has got a boost in his political career.
But despite the benefits, the outgoing Leader of Opposition, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, says the position comes with several challenges, which include being perceived as an enemy of the government.
Latigo noted that the legitimate criticisms which he made together with his team of the opposition MPs were always viewed as undermining the Government.
“We have been protesting against the extensive high fuel and food prices and we gave solutions, but they yielded nothing,†he said.