The government wants to hold local council elections for longer. In order to give the government time to organize for the elections, the Attorney General’s office informed the legal committee of Parliament that the Cabinet had decided to extend the terms of Local Council I and II chairpersons for an additional six months.
The setting up period before the LC elections will take three months, according to Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka.Following Speaker Anita Among’s indefinite suspension last Thursday, he claimed that after submitting this to the committee, the Ministry of Local Government will be in a position to advise Parliament at the appropriate time when it returns from recess. The terms of LCs I and II came to an end on July 10, 2023.
“The Cabinet made the decision to request that Parliament support the Executive’s request to extend the tenure of the LCs by another six months. “You must first register and then turn out for an election. As you are aware, we have already lost a month, therefore the six months will start on July 10th,” said Kiryowa.
However, a number of opposition figures have expressed discontent with the Attorney General’s position.
The shadow attorney general, Shamim Malende, claims that “we believe there are some games being played.”
“We are not satisfied with the Attorney General’s claim that the government was unprepared,” she continued. They are asking for an extension, but there is nothing we can do because the time limit has already passed.
The government was given a 30-day deadline by the opposition shadow cabinet to hold local council (LCI and LCII) elections nationwide.
The tenure of the LCI and II chairpersons ended on July 10.
The Electoral Commission previously stated that a shortage of funding prevented it from organizing the elections this month.
The Commission said it had asked for Sh90 billion for the elections. Of this, only Sh36 billion was provided by the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development.
In a press conference on Wednesday, July 12, 2023, at Parliament, the shadow cabinet, led by Ethel Naluyima, a Wakiso District woman Member of Parliament (MP) and shadow minister for local government, said that because village and parish chairpersons play such an important role in society, their positions cannot be vacant for very long.
 and shadow minister for local government, said that because village and parish chairpersons play such an important role in society, their positions cannot be vacant for very long.){kind=link}