Bwanika proposes Bobi Wine return to parliament upon losing presidential election

Former presidential candidate and current Member of Parliament, Dr. Abed Bwanika, is floating a controversial proposal calling for a constitutional amendment to ensure that presidential candidates who garner big voter support are automatically allocated seats in the Parliament of Uganda. 

Speaking on a radio talk show over the weekend, Dr. Bwanika argued that the current system fails to utilise national talent and creates "political mistakes" by locking out powerful, popular figures from formal government structures.

Dr. Bwanika suggests that a person who loses the presidential election but manages to secure 5% or more of the national vote should proceed directly to Parliament. 

He justified this move by pointing out that such candidates possess a "huge following bigger than any MP" and carry "great ideas that so many people believe in."

The MP specifically cited the recent electoral history of leading opposition figures. He noted that Col Dr Kizza Besigye and, most recently, Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu (Bobi Wine), both secured well over three million votes in their respective presidential bids but subsequently remained outside the formal structures of government. 

“That is not good politics. We should have politics that distributes power to deserving people. A person who got over 3 million votes in the presidential race and lost is the perfect candidate to serve as the Leader of Opposition in Parliament,” he said.

Learning from Regional and Historical Precedents

To bolster his argument, Bwanika referenced historical and regional examples. He recalled the late Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere, who contested and lost the presidency but later served in government, resulting in the country greatly benefiting from his wisdom and experience.

Furthermore, he pointed to the electoral system used by Uganda’s East African neighbour. 

“In Kenya they have a mechanism that allows those who lost in presidential polls to come serve in the government in different capacities,” he stated, concluding that while such a mechanism may be "foreign" to Uganda, it is one that the country urgently needs to adopt to enrich its governance.

Dr. Abed Bwanika, a veterinarian and politician, currently serves as the Member of Parliament for Kimanya-Kabonera constituency in Masaka City. 

He was elected in the 2021 general election under the ticket of the National Unity Platform (NUP), despite being the sitting president of his own party, the People’s Development Party (PDP).

Despite holding a seat under NUP, Dr. Bwanika has recently experienced friction with the party leadership. The NUP has publicly distanced itself from him, particularly after the House rejected the party’s move to reshuffle the leadership of the Government Assurances Committee, which Bwanika chairs. 

The Leader of Opposition, Joel Ssenyonyi, went on record to suggest that Bwanika was effectively working “in cahoots with the government”

He has since aligned himself with the Democratic Alliance, the part of Mathias Mpuuga another NUP dissident