Beyond Prayers: Why the Speaker's Office Should Be Freed from Discretionary Donations

Removing donation functions from the Speaker’s office would not diminish service delivery. Rather, it would strengthen Parliament as an institution while ensuring that public resources are distributed through transparent, accountable and legally established government systems.

By Lawrence Mayanja

In recent days, Uganda’s 12th Parliament has attracted public attention after the Rt. Hon. Speaker appealed to Ugandans to pray for him, expressing concern that some individuals were allegedly resorting to witchcraft in an attempt to force him out of office. Whether one believes in spiritual attacks or not, the appeal raises a broader governance question: why has the Office of the Speaker become a position so fiercely contested?

A significant part of the answer may lie in the enormous discretionary resources associated with the office, particularly billions of shillings allocated annually for donations to churches, schools, SACCOs, fundraising drives, burial support, and community projects.

When the Speaker’s Office Becomes a Centre of Patronage

Over the past decade, the Office of the Speaker has increasingly assumed a role that extends beyond its constitutional mandate. In a country where many communities struggle to access public services, obtaining financial support from the Speaker’s office can determine whether a local project succeeds or fails.

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This reality creates several pressures.

Political pressure: Members of Parliament, local leaders and constituents compete for access to the Speaker, knowing that access may translate into financial support for their communities.

Financial pressure: With billions of shillings reportedly distributed annually through discretionary donations, the Speaker controls resources comparable to the budgets of some government institutions.

Personal pressure: Every funding decision inevitably creates winners and losers, making the Speaker personally accountable for decisions that are often subjective and politically sensitive.

Where significant financial resources and political influence converge, competition inevitably intensifies. In Uganda’s social context, that competition may sometimes manifest itself through allegations of witchcraft, spiritual attacks or other forms of sabotage. Regardless of one’s beliefs, such claims reflect deeper concerns about transparency, fairness and trust in public institutions.

Why Discretionary Donations Conflict with the Speaker’s Constitutional Role

The Constitution assigns the Speaker a clear responsibility: to preside over Parliament impartially, protect the integrity of the House, safeguard minority voices and ensure the orderly conduct of legislative business.

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That role sits uneasily alongside acting as one of the country’s largest distributors of discretionary financial assistance.

Several governance concerns arise:

Limited transparency: Donation decisions are often made without clearly published criteria, making it difficult for the public to understand who benefits and why.
Institutional distraction: Considerable time and administrative resources may be diverted from Parliament’s core functions of legislation, oversight and representation toward managing donation requests.
Increased political contestation: When the office becomes associated with extensive patronage, the incentive to secure or retain the position grows, potentially deepening political divisions.

A Structural Solution

If the objective is to protect both the Office of the Speaker and whoever occupies it, the solution should be institutional rather than personal.

Several reforms deserve consideration:

Remove discretionary donation allocations from the Speaker’s budget. Financial support for churches, schools, SACCOs, fundraising initiatives and individual appeals should no longer be administered through the Office of the Speaker.
Refocus the budget on Parliament’s constitutional mandate. Resources should primarily support legislative work, committee activities, parliamentary administration, international parliamentary engagement and services directly connected to the functioning of the House.
Strengthen existing government programmes. Social assistance and community development projects should be funded through the appropriate ministries and government programmes operating under transparent guidelines and parliamentary oversight.
Adopt a formal “No Discretionary Donations” policy. Such a policy would clarify the Office’s constitutional role while reducing expectations that the Speaker serves as a personal source of financial assistance.

Reform Offers Better Protection Than Appeals Alone

Prayer occupies an important place in Uganda’s social and religious life and should never be dismissed. However, institutional reforms address the underlying governance challenges more effectively than public appeals alone.

Removing discretionary donations from the Office of the Speaker would likely produce several benefits:

reduce competition surrounding access to the office;
strengthen Parliament’s credibility by reinforcing its constitutional role;
protect current and future Speakers from unnecessary personal and political pressures; and
promote greater transparency and accountability in the allocation of public resources.

Uganda needs a Speaker whose authority rests on impartiality, procedural fairness and effective leadership of Parliament—not on control over discretionary financial patronage.

Removing donation functions from the Speaker’s office would not diminish service delivery. Rather, it would strengthen Parliament as an institution while ensuring that public resources are distributed through transparent, accountable and legally established government systems.

Ultimately, the strongest protection for the Speaker—and for Parliament itself—is to ensure that the Office remains focused on parliamentary business, leaving social support and development funding to the institutions specifically mandated to deliver them.