By Zainab Ali
Gorgeous Kampala Woman MP Nabila Ssempala Nagayi has survived a dangerous plot to axe her from Parliament after court Wednesday binned a petition by a voter over the position of the city status.
Alex Oryang Odonga, filed a petition in 2016 in the Constitutional court, challenging the legality of Naggayi’s re-election asserting that, since 2005, Kampala stopped being a district after the 9th Parliament amended the 1995 Constitution and created Kampala as the capital city of Uganda.
Court ruled: “Parliament had the power to do so under Article 78(2) of the Constitution but it did not do so which, in our view, reflects its intention to retain representation of Kampala regardless of it being referred to as capital city,” the judgment partly reads.”
The ruling added: “The location, demarcation and people of Kampala remained the same. Mere change of descriptive name to city or district in the law should not be reason to disenfranchise the people of Kampala. Participation in the affairs of government individually or through his/her representatives is guaranteed by Article 38(1) of the Constitution.”
The amendment according to Odonga stopped Kampala from being a district that required a Woman representative in the legislature. The petitioner contended that the Constitution of Uganda provides that there shall be one woman representative for every district in Parliament.
