Government has snubbed calls by the opposition to scrap parliamentary representation of selected special interest groups including the army.
Instead ,cabinet has approved the creation of another special interest group of the elderly from the age of 60 -according to Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister , Prof. Ephraim Kamuntu.
The number of special interest groups is now six including the; Youths, Workers, Persons with Disabilities, Women and the Uganda People’s Defence Forces-UPDF.
Prof. Kamuntu also said that the cabinet had resolved to keep the current composition of parliament as it is with all the special interest groups to continue to be represented. Each district will continue having a woman representative, the youth, workers and Persons with Disabilities with each continuing to have five representatives while the UPDF will keep its 10 MPs.
On whether these groups still need representation seeing that they have little impact on the people they represent, Kamuntu maintained that over the years, they have played a very important stabilizing role.
The new cities of Fort Portal , Mbarara, Arua, Jinja, Mbale, Gulu, Mbale and Masaka will each have a representative in Parliament.
