Canceling Redundant Affirmative Action Is Affirmative Action. The Observer newspaper has reported about a proposal by the Uganda Law Society cancelling the affirmative action for parliamentary representation enjoyed by special interest groups since 1996 when the current Constitution was promulgated. Last year, civil society organizations and citizens were called upon to write proposals for amendments of the Constitution. I actually proposed 27 amendments (picture). The special interest groups are the army, the youth, the disabled and women. Affirmative action was intended to guarantee that these groups concerns are constantly taken into account in the national debate. However, affirmative action is by nature limited in time. Yet the recent recommendation by the Uganda Law Society that it is time to scrap army and women representation in parliament has been received with shock from these two interest groups. The question that the people should be asking is what have these groups brought to the table in the 20 years that they have been allowed parliamentary access? About the army being in parliament, if a proper democratic political system is in place together with a professional army, then the military is supposed to be focused on doing the job it is trained for: Protecting Uganda's borders plus it's citizens lives and property. Simple! Does your askari (guard) decide on how you run your household affairs? It's not his job. You summon him to the living room when there is a security breach to discuss. As for women representatives, it seems that they have themselves refused to progress to the equal status with men. Even those that have been women MP since the measure was introduced 20 years ago, still fear to compete directly with men for the standard MP seat. Why? Are prominent women now the ones going against gender activism? In other job sectors, women are fighting the real fight and getting the few jobs without the favours that women parliamentarians enjoy. It seems activism is actually reduced compared to when women were first given free MP seats. Didn't we constantly here big feminist voices like Miria Matembe and Cecilia Ogwal? (In fact wasn't Mrs. Ogwal the only person from Obote's UPC party that I could support?) People were mesmerized by these womens pertinent views. Compare that to the other women MP's today. We hardly hear strong opinions fom them. Performance data published in the media repeatedly shows that they aren't proficient. Poor contribution to debates if any at all. Being in parliament has become a way for earning increased salaries, yet the rural woman has hardly benefitted from this significant 20-year national gesture towards women. People complain that Women MP's are focusing solely on party politicking, soe-candidacies, allowances and cat fights. The tabloids are awash with sex scandals, extramarital affairs and broken marriages. It's time for women politicians to get back into the fight for women emancipation and girl education.
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