ADDRESSING CHALLENGES TO THE EFFECTIVE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN

AND YOUTH IN POLITICS AND DECISION MAKING IN UGANDA: POLICY

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACHIEVING PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY.

A policy Brief prepared for the Netherlands Institute For Multiparty Democracy
(NIMD)
By
Prosper Mubangizi, M.A Public Policy
Policy and Advocacy Specialist
Lead Consultant
prospermatwooki@gmail.com

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The 2005 referendum marked the return of political party or multiparty
dispensation in Uganda after political parties had been banned in Uganda and
confined to Kampala by the Museveni led government following the 1986
takeover of government. Currently, more than 29 political parties in Uganda
exist to provide alternative policy direction to the government and nation at
large.

The cornerstone of democratic governance is inclusive participation in political

processes by all actors including youths and women. This is because it
determines the dynamics of the structure and distribution of political power
and the consequent nature of political and economic institutions that shape
the political and economic trajectory of the society.

The demographic composition of Uganda where youth and women form the
majority signals the need for political parties not only to draft manifestos and
policy statements into their agenda but to also ensure that women and youth
take centre stage in the formation, running and management of these political
organisations.

Analysis of Uganda’s multiparty democratic process points to the existence of

the institutional and organisational structures that foster the participation of
all groups within the population. The constitution, for instance, grants the
right to all political groups to compete for the acquisition of political power.
Though women and youth are given a place in the governance and running of
Ugandan political parties through women and youth wings and leagues, their
actual participation outside a) as poster boys and noise makers, b) as vessels of
propaganda and hate messages, c) stage managed political events aimed at
getting cheap political capital and d) as items to show for the existence of
political formations, their participation in the political party arena is lacking
not only in visibility but also in relevance and meaning.

This Policy brief recommends i) establishing economic empowerment schemes

that will get women and youth out of the shackles of poverty and empower
them to take up their civic responsibilities, ii) amendment of the Political
Parties and Organizations Act to provide for leadership and mentorship
programs by political parties as a statutory requirement for registering and
running a political party, iii) formal structuring and recognition of the Inter
Party Youth Platform (IYOP) as a structure of the Inter Party Organization for
Dialogue (IPOD), iv) Review of the Electoral Commission Civic Education
Handbook to make it gender responsive, v) allocating at least 15% to the Youth
wings and 15% to the Women’s Leagues to help them run effective and highly
influential structures in the parties, vi) introduction of proportional
representation so as to increase the numbers of youth and women in decision
making positions among others.
1.0 BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

Article 32 of the 1995 constitution as amended introduced what was known as

affirmative action1; a decision by the NRA government of president Yoweri
Museveni to tackle the centuries old systemic and structural oppression of
some categories such as youth, women and people with disabilities. Under the
Constitutional affirmative framework which is Article 32 (1), it is explicitly
stated thus ‘notwithstanding anything in the Constitution, the state shall take
affirmative action in favour of groups marginalised on the basis of gender, age,
disability or any other reason created by history, tradition or custom’.

In many countries, the political elite is mainly conceived of rather wealthy and
educated middle-aged to senior men of the dominant ethnicity and national
parliaments are arenas that fit this description. This is a scenario that special
interest group representation in Uganda’s parliament sought to provide a
solution to.

The enactment of the 1993 National Youth Council Act as well as the Women’s
Council Act and the subsequent affirmative action policies was seen as a
landmark milestone in ensuring that traditionally disadvantaged groups like
women and youth were brought to and provided a seat at the decision making
table. However, the women structures have been victims of state capture.

Equally, the youth structures, though active, have fallen victim to state capture
and have by extension become a structure of the ruling National Resistance
Movement. This denies the youth and women a chance to be heard and to
participate in the decision making processes of this country. The result is far
fetched policies and legislation that does not respond to the needs of the
people.

The central argument of this policy brief is that, albeit the existence of good
institutional and organizational structures for effective participation of women
and youth, women and youth in Uganda lack the critical resources (economic
1
Africa Youth Development Link and Uganda Youth Network (2014). Audit into Youth Representation.
and civic) to draw on in order to participate meaningfully in political processes.
This has subsequently made them vulnerable to political manipulation by
political elites in the country.

In today’s highly commercialized Ugandan politics, the demographic dominance

of the women and youth has been used to support the interests of dominant
elites with no or little interest to the issues of women and youth. This
argument rests on the assumption that political participation is a dynamic
social phenomenon that captures a plurality of political activities intended to
directly or indirectly influence political choices at various levels of the political
system.

2.0 METHODOLOGY

The Consultant used desk review of policies and government programs, studies
and policy reviews with the intention of probing the factors affecting the
effective and meaningful participation and representation of women and youth
in Uganda’s political space, with particular bias on the legislature and local
councils. The desk review was an investigation into the link between the law
and the structural, religious and cultural impediments to the political
participation and representation of women and youth in Uganda’s political
space.

The policy brief and its recommendations are based on the civic voluntarism
model which views political participation as being largely shaped by citizens’
involvement in non-political institutions such as work, voluntary and religious
organizations. The policy brief argues that certain resources especially time,
money and civic skills are necessary for political participation. Most
fundamental is the acquisition of civic skills, which, according to the theory,
takes place in the non- political institutions outlined above.

What this implies is that for any population group to effectively influence
political processes, they must have economic resources but also civic skills to
enable them engage with the dominant political actors. These civic skills which
among others include skills in; chairing meetings, organizing peaceful
demonstrations, advocacy, lobbying, networking to mention but a few, are
gained through involvement in nonpolitical establishments then replicated
within political organizations for meaningful engagement.

2.1 TRENDS IN THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN AND YOUTH IN ELECTIONS

At the Local Government level, there were over 7470 elective positions for
councilors. Male Youth councilors make up a meagre 3%, same with female
Youth Councillors at 3%. Women councilors on the otherhand, make up at
least 30% as shown in the pie chart below

Elected Councillors in 2020-21 General Elec-

tions

Women Elected Councillors Female Youth Councillors

Male Youth Councillors Directly Elected Councilors

Source: Author’s calculations based on the 2020-21 Electoral

Commission reports

From the above statistics, it is clear that youth and women are failing to break
into the “direct” seat category.

The Parliament of the Republic of Uganda is demographically composed as

follows

AGE CATEGORY FREQUENCY PERCENT

 24-28 8 1.5

29-33 31 5.9

34-38 65 12.3

39-43 109 20.6

44-48 109 20.6

49-53 81 15.3

54-58 54 10.2

59-63 29 5.5

64-68 12 2.3

69-73 11 2.1

74-78 9 1.7

79-83 01 0.2

TOTAL 519 98.1%

Source: Parliament Watch Uganda

Mean age of Parliamentarians is 46.8 years. The youngest MP has 24 years

and the oldest has 82 years. This implies that the difference between the oldest
MP and the youngest is 58 years.2

3.0 SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS

3.1Youth and Young People

Uganda is a young country 49% of its population is below the age of 14; about
56% below 18 years.3 The youth population (18-30 years) currently constitutes
2
Parliament Watch Uganda (2021). Demographic Analysis Of the 11th Parliament
3
E Kwesiga, R Wamajji, P Mubangizi & G Mwesigye (2019). The State of the Youth Report:
Assessing Government Investment In Young People. Action Aid, Restless Development,
Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Centre For Policy Analysis and Uganda Parliamentary
a significant proportion of the total population (22.5%). Despite its
predominantly young population, Uganda is experiencing the aspect of ‘grey’
cabinets, Parliaments and local councils. This is because despite the
amendment of the Constitution to remove age restrictions on access to political
office as demanded for by the 2016-2021 National Youth Manifesto, the
required structural, legislative and policy actions have not been undertaken to
remove barriers to youth participation in political and governance processes.

Despite the fact that 8.8 million of the estimated 19 million Ugandans eligible
to vote and be voted for in national elections are young people below 35 years,
only 7.3% of Uganda’s Members of Parliament are youth. The 7.3% legislative
composition can be attributed to Article 78 of the 1995 Constitution that
introduced Special Interest Representation for historically marginalized groups
like youth, women, people with disabilities among others. This constitutional
provision ensures that 5 members of Parliament are youth.

3.1.1 Constraints

The youth identified a number of systemic barriers that hinder access to

political office. Some structural barriers include the highly monetized political
spaces. The 2015 Amendments in the Electoral Laws that increased the
nomination fees for people seeking political office have been highlighted as
legislative plans to close out young people and women that would want to seek
political office. For instance, nomination fees for intending LCV Candidates was
increased to UGX1m while Member of Parliament nomination fee was increased
from UGX 200,000 to UGX 3,000,000 and the presidential nomination fee was
increased to UGX 20,000,000. Such fees are too high and push out many
youth that harbour aspirations.

Information is not widely spread on government policies and programmes;

leaders are not accountable to the young people; youth have limited spaces for
participation in leadership and decision making; the capacity of the youth to

Forum on Youth Affairs.

participate in governance processes is not built; spaces/platforms for youth to
participate in governance processes are limited; and programs designed to
reshape societal perceptions towards youth are limited or non-existent.

With Uganda’s youth unemployment rate standing at an alarming 19.7%

according to official statistics from UBOS, Uganda youth face poverty, barriers
to education, multiple forms of discrimination and inadequate access to decent
health care package. Most young people are rural based, engaging in
subsistence agriculture without any prospect of a decent paid job. Against this
background of inadequate gainful engagement of Ugandan youth in economic
activities, our young people will always be charmed by financial incentives from
the political elites who use them as a rivulet to achieve their egoistic political
interest. This is premised on the conviction that unless our young people
become effective economic actors, their voices and demands will always be
taken for granted.

A study by Uganda Youth Network in 2013 revealed that youth participation in

political processes in Uganda is often motivated by the need for entertainment
and money. The report goes on to demonstrate that many youth lose their
candidature during campaigns both as a result of lack of financial resources
but also as an avenue to get huge financial recompense for withdrawing in
favor of wealthy political elites. Financial motivations also make young people
to rent out their services to perpetrate violence during election periods. Overall,
youth engagement tend to increase during election periods to attract political
rents while post-electoral periods receive the lowest level of youth participation
as many get sidelined. The few who seek to make leaders accountable are lured
by little facilitations for lunch and promises for jobs that are in most cases not
fulfilled.

The limited youth involvement into non-political institutions particularly work

has therefore predisposed them to poverty, which makes them prone to bribery
from the political elites. Poverty and unemployment also make youth
legislatures to view political positions as a job opportunity rather than a
platform to influence political decisions and policies in the best interest of the
youth. Ugandan Youth leaders associate political positions with stable income
in the first place, which leads to poor participation by young people.

Youth in civil society and non political institutions like business, culture,
sports and arts and the academia are not well mobilized. This leaves youth
structures weak and without the technical input and participation of the wider
youth demographic.

3.1.2 Recommendations

Parliament should amend the i) Presidential Elections Act and ii)

Parliamentary Elections Act and reduce nomination fees from UGX
20,000,000 and UGX 3,000,000 respectively to allow more youth
compete for elective positions
The Electoral Commission should draft and introduce to Parliament a
law that regulates campaign financing. The commercialization of politics
and elections has been cited as a hindrance to youth participation in
politics
Political parties strengthen their youth wings/ leagues and create
mentorship programs for their youth leaders. Youth wings should be
think-tanks that influence the policy direction of different political
parties
The Inter Party Youth Platform (IYOP) is gazetted as a youth structure of
the Inter Party Organization for Dialogue (IPOD). An amendment of the
Political Parties and Organizations Act should be brought to Parliament
so that by law, 15% of the monies appropriated by Parliament to Political
parties with representation in Parliament are directed to youth wings
under their umbrella organization IYOP
Political Parties should introduce affirmative action policies of removing
fees for youth seeking nomination for party tickets during election
The Education Act should be amended to warrant that 2 prefects in
schools whether public or private are part of the School’s Board. This is
to give responsibility to young people in preparation for national
leadership
Reinstate the teaching of political education as a subject at lower levels
of education
 CSOs should introduce leadership centres of excellence for youth in
politics, civil society, business, sports and creative arts for easy
mentorship and mobilization of youth leaders
3.2 Women

The Constitution of Uganda has domesticated several provisions on women’s

participation in electoral processes from international and regional frameworks
including The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 21(1); 37
the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW); 38 the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (1995),
which outlined 12 strategic objectives and critical areas of action including,
“Women in Power and Decision Making” and the 1985 Nairobi Forward-Looking
Strategies and the Platform for Action (1993), which affirms that “women’s
rights are human rights”.

Other frameworks that elucidate women’s participation in decision-making

include United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and 1889
(2009); 39 the African Union’s (AU) Protocol to the African Charter on Human
and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, 2000; and the African
Charter on Elections, Democracy and Governance, which provide for gender
parity - 50/50 representation for men and women in parliament, as re-affirmed
in the AU Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality, 2004.

The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention and its resultant policy and legal
instruments on women’s rights and gender equality heralded an increase in the
participation and representation of women in politics, leadership and
governance. There was deliberate concerted efforts undertaken by both the
international community and national political players to increase the
participation of women in the decision making spaces, mainly through a
plethora of legal and policy instruments, declarations and protocols such as
the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against
Women (CEDAW), African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, The African
Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG), The New
Partnership for African Democracy (NEPAD) Declaration to which the Republic
of Uganda is signatory.

The Inter-Parliamentary Union, for instance, noted national parliaments’ global

increase of up to 24.1% female participation rate from 13.8% in 2003, while
women in national level political posts had increased by 8% and 2% for
presidential posts.4

The biggest success rate of women in governance has arguably been achieved
in Africa, with Rwanda taking the lead with 64% of women representation in
the legislature.5 Africa also currently has three nations that have achieved a
50% gender parity in cabinet appointments; Ethiopia 6, Rwanda7 and most
recently South Africa.8 According to IPU(2015), four African countries appear in
the top ten countries with the highest numbers of females in national
parliaments.9 Women in Sub-Saharan Africa on average occupy 20.4 percent of
single or lower house seats, an increase from 18.3 percent in 2010 and from
12.4 percent at the beginning of the millennium.10

The National Objectives and Directive Principles of State Policy of the

Constitution of Uganda provides the cardinal legal framework for women’s
participation in electoral processes. 40 Objective VI and Article 33(5) of the
Constitution are important articles for women’s rights to participate in electoral
processes in Uganda. Article 78 (1) (b) provides for the election of one woman
representative for every district, while Article 180(2) (b) provides for one-third of
the membership of each local government to be reserved for women.

4
Inter Parliamentary Union. Women in National Parliaments. https://www. ipu.org
5
UN Women. Revisiting Rwanda Five Years after Record Breaking Parliamentary Elections (2018).
6
https://qz.com/africa/1426110/ethiopias-new-cabinet-is-50-women/
7
See Barnes and Burchard(2013)
8
Adebayo, AJ Davie and M Tawfeeq( May 30 th 2019). ‘South Africa Makes history as women make up half of
government for the first time’ CNN.
9
These countries include Rwanda, Namibia and South Africa.
10
See Abduheraim. Study on discrimination against women in law and in practice in political and public life,
including during times of political transitions.
The affirmative action policy enshrined in the Constitution for women’s
representation at parliamentary and local council levels has brought more
women into mainstream politics and key government positions. At the global
level, Uganda’s position in terms of women’s representation in parliament is at
33 out of 190 countries, while within the African continent Uganda is at 9 th
position out of 54 countries. Apart from women’s participation in the electoral
process as candidates, the laws of Uganda enshrine women’s rights to
participate in the electoral process as party agents, election administrators and
election observers.

Year Number of Affirmative Open Others Total Total % of % of

Districts action Seats Women Men women Men

1989 39 39 2 9 50 230 18 82
1994 39 39 8 3 50 236 17 83
1996 39 39 8 4 51 276 19 81
2001 56 56 3 6 75 304 24 76
2006 79 79 14 1 100 319 31 69
2011 112 112 11 8 131 375 35 65
2016 112 112 18 9 139 428 33 67
Source: Author’s calculations based on various reports

3.2.1 Constraints
Despite the progress made in women’s participation in electoral processes in
Uganda, challenges of discrimination and marginalization remain. Notably,
women largely continue to reside in the margins of decision-making processes
and tend to confront specific hurdles making the election ground unlevelled for
women and men. For women, there are critical social, cultural, economic and
political factors that impact their election journey uniquely hence creating
persistent deficits. Even in office, they have to juggle with a lot of issues such
as family, child upbringing on top of answering to the requirements and
aspirations of the electorate.
Beyond the affirmative seats, women have failed to break through on “open”
seats that require them to compete with the men. This is better illustrated in
the table below;
Contestants for Open Seats by Sex in 2016
Post Number of Number of Number of % of females % of males
Candidates Female Male
contestants candidates
President 8 1 7 12.5 87.5
Member of 1,314 90 1,224 6.8 93.2
Parliament
District LC 376 9 367 2.4 97.6
V/ City
Mayor
Total 1,698 100 1,598 5.9 94.1

Though there has been an increment in numbers of female legislators over the
years, the increase has not been in sync with the demographic composition of
the country. It is a negligible increase. For example, female legislators
increased from 159 in the 10th parliament (2016-2021) to 183 in the 11th
Parliament; a 13% increment which is highly negligible given the rise in
constituencies and administrative units ahead of the 2020-21 General
Elections.

Though there was an increase in constituencies, the number of women

legislators on direct seats rose from 16 in the 10 th Parliament to 22 in the 11th
parliament.
 Number of Women Legislators
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2011-2016 2016-2021 2021-2026

Affirmative Action Direct Seats Total

Source: Author’s calculations based on various reports

Gender roles also continue to impede the participation of women in political

and decision making processes. The dialogue revealed that many women are
still viewed as assets for reproduction who should only remain in the kitchen
and the labour ward. This cultural aspect is of the view that decision making
and politics is the preserve of men not women.

The electoral process is also designed to leave out women. This is because of
the following reasons i) the high cost of politics means that many women are
left out as they cant afford as an average Member of Parliament aspirant needs
at least UGX 500,000,000 to contest for elections and ii) the elections are too
militarized characterized by violence which tends to push women out of
politics.

3.2.2 Recommendations
Political Parties should i) apply affirmative action where women that express
interest in standing for elective positions do not have to pay nomination fees
and ii) develop strong women leaders’ academies where women in leadership
are trained and mentored.
The Electoral Commission (EC) should amplify its oversight mandate to
encourage political parties to promote gender equality in their structures and
activities.

There is need to review the Electoral Commission Voter Education Handbook to

ensure that it is gender-responsive and addresses the factors that affect
women’s equal treatment with men as they participate in the electoral process.
As such, it is recommended that Voter education should include a variety of
initiatives whose messages and methods of delivery take cognisance of the
social-cultural contexts and heterogeneity of Ugandan society.

The EC should develop and manage multi-stakeholder platforms designed to

mobilize broad support for the promotion of popular participation in politics
especially for marginalized groups including women and youth. The EC should
put in place a system for reporting election-related violence, particularly
women, and include this information in the election report - disaggregating the
data by sex and age.

Political Parties should remove requirements for nomination fees for women
and make party primaries as cheap as possible. A 2020 study by NIMD and
WFD found that the average amount of money spent by a candidate during the
2016 primary and general elections was estimated by the study to be 465
million Ugandan shillings (UGX) or 136,084 USD for parliamentary candidates,
and UGX 237.5 million (USD 69,505) for Local Council V (LCV) chairpersons.
At parliamentary level, the study found that candidates from the mainstream
constituencies spent UGX 458.2 million while female counterparts running for
affirmative action district women’s seats spent UGX 496.4 million over both
primary and general elections.

As regards the participation of women, there is need to uphold the feminist

political theory which advocates for political inclusivity that goes beyond
gender neutrality, but also addresses itself to the need for the redistribution of
power and elimination of the traditional reinforcements that have made
positions of power a preserve of only the men and relegated the women to the
reproductive function only.

4.0 CASE STUDY: YOUTH REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT.

4.1 CHALLENGES TO EFFECTIVE PERFORMANCE BY YOUTH MEMBERS

OF PARLIAMENT.
Ambiguous role of Youth MPs. The role of a Member of Parliament (MP) is
derived from the mandate and functions of Parliament, explicitly provided for in
Article 79 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda; a Member of
Parliament shall make laws for peace, order, development and good governance
of Uganda. Other functions are oversight/budget appropriation and
representation. One would think that with Special Interest Representation,
specific roles would be set for members elected to represent special interest
groups in a bid to ably quantify and measure their effectiveness, let alone
provide direction to the Youth MPs in the execution of their duties and
responsibilities.

Large Constituencies which in a way render the task of effective

representation quite difficult. This predicament is buttressed by a performance
audit of the Youth MPs in the 9th Parliament by the Uganda Youth Network
and Africa Youth Development Link which ably exhibited that Youth MPs’
constituencies are too big for effective representation.

“For example, eastern region has about 34 districts. The Youth MP for the
northern region covers about 28 districts and the national Youth MP covers 112
districts. Under such geographical scope of coverage, they [Youth MPs] cannot
adequately consult and give feedback to the youth in the regions of
representation”11

11
See Performance Audit into Youth Members of Parliament by Uganda Youth Network and African
Youth Development Link.
It should be argued that such large constituencies have affected the
effectiveness of Youth MPs as it hampers their capacity to consult, engage and
give feedback to their constituents. This has culminated into a scenario where
“the participatory quality of the process leading to laws and rules as ensured
by the Youth MPs is still very low” 12 yet the decisions made and actions carried
out by the youth MPs have a binding effect on the community of the youth in
Uganda.

Limited space for independence as the youth MPs in most spaces are
coopted into the state superstructure13. This is worsened by the fusion of the
state and the legislature which has not only affected the performance of Youth
MPs but the entire national legislature which to many has morphed into a
stooge of the ruling government with a strong caucusing system that binds
MPs to a predetermined position. This has downgraded the achievement of
governance accountability which based on the accountability principle as a
form of popular democracy where the government is held accountable to the
citizens through the legislature. As ultimate masters, the citizens remain the
final judge of the performance of the government which principle state co-
option of the existing arms of government has eroded.

The voting process is not very representative. J.S. Mill argued that through
elections, people “possess this ultimate power in all its completeness and thus
are taken as the masters of all the operations”. It should be noted that the
ultimate power lies with the youth, thus the youth are considered to be
sovereign; this popular power is exercised by the selected youth MPs on behalf
of the community of youth in Uganda and the youth MPs are mandated by the
youth through periodical elections, in order to renew popular consent, based
on the performance. However, these three sacrosanct principles have been

UYONET and AYDL (2015).

12

13
P Mubangizi and C Okidi (2019). Consolidation or Reversal: Making Sense of Uganda’s Fluctuating
Democracy and Governance Landscape. Center For Policy Analysis and National Endowment for
Democracy.
rendered elitist and unrealistic by use of an electoral college to vote in the
Youth MPs which by implication makes them more of delegates than
representatives. The Electoral College creates a kind of legislative capture in
which the Youth MPs are more answerable to the National Youth Council
Structures that voted them than the 8.8 million Young people of Uganda. it
should be noted that the National Youth Council which votes in Youth MPs is
composed of only 0.003% youth which renders the principle of popular
democracy null and void14, that is to say, only 336 youth get to vote the 5
Youth Members of Parliament.

The basic and ideal assumption is that as the Youth MPs perform their role as
people’s representatives, it is pertinent that they are guided by inter alia, “the
constituency opinions, and rational judgment, consideration of the national
interest and personal convictions or conscience”. However, as any deficiency of
representative democracy, this assumption remains only paper and
inapplicable in reality. This is an ideological deficiency that is clearly
articulated in Col. Muammar Gadaffi’s 15 book “The Green Book” in which he
argues that because, representative democracy is by leaders who have
delegated authority, it is almost next to impossible for leaders to fully reflect
the aspirations, concerns and interests of the led.

4.2 BEST PRACTICES: WHAT SHOULD EFFECTIVE YOUTH LEGISLATIVE

REPRESENTATION LOOK LIKE?
Despite Uganda being one of the countries with the best legislation in as far as
youth participation is concerned with structures right from the village level to
the national level and with space at all major decision making platforms, youth
participation spaces in Uganda has not translated in to the much needed policy
and programmatic reforms that can make Youth and the country reap from the
demographic dividends16. This position paper therefore recommends thus;

14
CCEDU 2018
15
Col. Muammar Gadaffi. The Green Book
 That the law be amended to include specific duties and roles of youth
Members of Parliament. This is because giving youth MPs the same roles
as directly elected MPs has crowded out their work, created ambiguities
with no direction towards execution and implementation apart from
legislation, appropriation, oversight and representation which can be
done by the other directly elected MPs. Clearly articulating the mandate
of Youth MPs will go a long way in helping the public appreciate their
contribution in the house.

That proportional representation is introduced in a bid to increase the

numbers of youth in parliament as the 5 seats in 452 house are
insufficient to pursue a meaningful and successful pro youth agenda.
Moreso, the use of age quotas is outdated and doesn’t work most
especially in hybrid democracies like Uganda which ensure that age
quotas do not achieve any positive impact as they are too selectively
applied and when applied they are mere tokens with little meaningful
positive influence on the representation of the young.

That the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development (MoGLSD)

as the line ministry takes greater interest in the work of youth MPs,
provides policy and technical direction towards better positioning them
to lobby, represent and advocate for the youth.

In the absence of National Youth Parliamentary Committee as provided

for under the National Youth Council Act, there is need to strengthen the
Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Youth Affairs to convene and provide
research, technical and policy guidance to youth MPs, link the youth
constituency with Parliament of Uganda and become the number one
platform for youth legislative advocacy. This entails changing its

16
Kenneth Nkumiro (2016). Youth MPs: It is time to work for youth
 mandate into a quasi non departmental but government agency that can
act as Civil Society but established with government; can draw funding
from donors and government and have its resolution very binding.

Deliberate efforts to educate the public on the roles of MPs should be

undertaken and this should be buttressed by a proper accountability
mechanism. Recent Parliament scorecards have measured MPs’
performance based on how many times they speak on the floor of
Parliament which is misleading and has contributed to the hostile
reception given to youth MPs thinking that they are a burden onto the
public purse. Accountability of MPs should be based on the committee
work input; budgetary allocations and bills and acts passed. For Youth
MPs, their performance should include the Uganda Parliamentary Forum
on Youth Affairs as a whole in addition to the above measurement
platforms indicated.

5.0 GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS

It is always argued that political parties exist to distinguish the interests of

different groups of people in society and to provide the platform for organising
and mobilising to acquire political power in order to advance those interests.
The process depends on a strong civil society characterised by an independent
media to facilitate the flow of information about politicians’ and citizens’
interests to effectively foster an unencumbered citizen choice of political
allegiance as well as cultivating the civil capital within society in order to
engender an informed and politically conscious society.

It is therefore advised that Political Parties engender the interests of women

and youth. The Political Parties and Organizations’ Act should make it
compulsory for political parties to have youth and women structures as well as
set up youth and women leadership and mentorship academies. Parliament
should pursue an amendment of the Political Parties and Organizations Act
and they should deposit their annual reports with the Electoral Commission
detailing how they deliberately engage, uplift, mainstream, train and mentor
youth and women.

There is need to introduce proportional representation via age and gender

quotas so as to increase the numbers of youth and women in decision making
spheres like Parliament and Local Councils. The First Over The Post (FOTP)
method of winner takes it all means that the leadership structures do not
represent the demographic composition of the country. The Constitution will
require an amendment to introduce proportional representation.

5.1 THE ROLE OF NIMD, CIVIL SOCIETY AND DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS

Regular documentation, updating and use of youth and gender disaggregated

data in all institutions relevant to politics and decision making such as the
political parties and media will enable actors to assess progress, gaps and best
practices for gender equality and youth inclusion in political and decision
making processes.

Development Partners and Civil Society Organizations who support the work of
political parties should demand regular evaluation of parties on gender equality
and youth inclusion and advocate for women and youth empowerment action
plans to address gaps.

Civil society organisations should continue to provide technical support to

political parties to enhance youth inclusion and gender equality in parties.

Civil Society Organizations like NIMD should set up leadership and training
camps for young and female leaders. This is to ensure their grooming and
coaching to rise up into the political sphere.
6.0 CONCLUSION
Using Verbe et al’s model of Political Volunteerism, we conclude that policies
and programs that place emphasis on the involvement of women and youth in
non-political institutions, particularly work, to enhance their capacity to
effectively participate in political processes are needed. These would include a
National Graduate Scheme and Volunteer Program. Drawing from this
analysis, here are some key points to conclude with on this discussion:

i. Specific conditions must exist to incentivize inclusive participation in

political processes. These institutional and organizational prerequisites
seems to be in place in Uganda e.g. Affirmative action for marginalized
groups provided for in the constitution (mainstreamed by political
parties)
ii. But having these institutional instruments alone is NOT enough. The
women and youth must have the capacity (economic and civic) to
organize around specific interest under the legally provided platforms in
order to actualize these institutional instruments for their effective
participation
iii. Strengthening political participation by women and youth therefore
requires, most importantly, addressing the critical binding constraints
(economic and civic) that impede their capacity to participate
meaningfully in politics. This entails economic empowerment/addressing
the underemployment/unemployment problem as well as increasing
youth participation in other non-political organizations in order to
acquire the necessary civic skills for political engagement.

It is our earnest belief that women and youth need to play a more critical role
as Uganda seeks to grow her multiparty political system. This can be achieved
through i) mass civic sensitization drives aimed at making the women and
youth aware of the role they can play and avenues through which they can rise
in the political rank and file, ii) structured dialogue processes with political
party actors to realize the need to make women and youth friendly party
structures that can attract the young people to be part and iii) deliberate efforts
to ensure the CSOs most especially youth and women led CSOs take a crucial
role in bringing women and youth to the centre of political party activities.
REFERENCES

Madanda A. (2016). Inclusion and Exclusion in 2016 General Elections: The

Case of Gender Equality. In J. Oloka Onyango & J. Ahikire (eds.) Controlling
Consent: Uganda’s 2016 Elections.

Kitamirike E. & Kisaakye P. (2020). Impact of the Cost of Politics on Inclusive

Political Participation in Uganda. Westminster Foundation for Democracy and
Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy.

E Kwesiga, R Wamajji, P Mubangizi & G Mwesigye (2019). The State of the

Youth Report: Assessing Government Investment In Young People. Action Aid,
Restless Development, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Centre For
Policy Analysis and Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Youth Affairs.

Col. Muammar Gadaffi. The Green Book

Kenneth Nkumiro (2016). Youth MPs: It is time to work for youth

P Mubangizi and C Okidi (2019). Consolidation or Reversal: Making Sense of

Uganda’s Fluctuating Democracy and Governance Landscape. Center For
Policy Analysis and National Endowment for Democracy.

E Kwesiga, R Wamajji, P Mubangizi & G Mwesigye (2019). The State of the

Youth Report: Assessing Government Investment In Young People. Action Aid,
Restless Development, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, Centre For
Policy Analysis and Uganda Parliamentary Forum on Youth Affairs.