By Reagan Nabutele

Kampala-Uganda-Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Members of Parliament representing the Bugisu Sub-region were among legislators from across Uganda who turned up at the Speke Resort Convention Centre in Munyonyo, Kampala, on Tuesday for the official induction training of the 12th Parliament.

The four-day retreat, organised under the office of the Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Jacob Oboth-Oboth, is designed to prepare both first-time and returning legislators for the demands of the new five-year term. The Bugisu Sub-region comprising Mbale City, Mbale District, Bududa, Manafwa, Namisindwa and Bulambuli, home to the Bamasaaba people — sent its full complement of representatives to the gathering.

According to parliamentary organisers, the induction goes beyond ceremony. Sessions running through the week are expected to take MPs through parliamentary rules of procedure and committee oversight protocols, ethical standards and codes of conduct expected of lawmakers, and national priorities such as the management of Uganda’s upcoming oil revenues and the drive toward economic transformation.

The opening day drew the country’s top political leadership, including Prime Minister Rt. Hon. Robinah Nabbanja and Leader of the Opposition Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, signalling a unified start to the legislative calendar regardless of party lines.

Speaking at the opening, Prime Minister Nabbanja used her remarks to press MPs to rally behind government’s development agenda, telling delegates that Uganda’s transition from Least Developed Country to lower-middle-income status should be built on as Parliament works toward an upper-middle-income target. She also disclosed that leadership positions on Parliament’s sectoral and standing committees — closely watched by MPs eager for influential assignments will be formally announced at the next sitting of the House, rather than during the induction itself.

For Bugisu’s delegation, the induction is more than procedural orientation. With committee assignments still pending, the training period is widely seen as the moment when MPs position themselves to secure seats on committees that matter most to the sub-region — agriculture, trade and cooperatives, education, and natural resources among them, given Bugisu’s economic backbone in coffee farming, cooperative societies (SACCOs), and the Mt. Elgon ecosystem.

Accountability and ethical conduct, both centerpieces of this week’s sessions, also resonate strongly in a region where cooperative economics and community-based social enterprise have become central to local development conversations themes that increasingly intersect with the cultural institutions and practices, such as buutu, that anchor Bamasaaba identity.

The induction runs through the week, with Parliament’s leadership expected to use the retreat to set the tone for the 12th Parliament’s legislative priorities. Committee leadership announcements, due at the next sitting of the House, will be the first concrete signal of where individual Bugisu MPs land in the new Parliament’s structure — and how much influence the sub-region will wield over national policy in the term ahead.