Jacob Marksons Oboth-Oboth is the new Speaker of Uganda’s 12th Parliament.
Oboth-Oboth, who was endorsed by the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party, emerged as the winner after securing 441 of the 519 votes that were counted. He beat National Unity Platform’s Paul Mwiru, who got 60 votes, and Democratic Party president Norbert Mao, who got 15.
Who is Jacob Oboth-Oboth?
Jacob Marksons Oboth, popularly known as Jacob Oboth-Oboth, was born on 13 April 1971. He is a lawyer, intellectual property expert and politician affiliated with the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM).
He currently serves as the elected Member of Parliament for West Budama County South. He has also been serving as the State Minister for Defence in charge of General Duties in the recently dissolved cabinet.
Over the years, Oboth-Oboth has built a strong reputation in Parliament, particularly in legal and governance matters. He currently chairs the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee and has previously headed the Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges as well as the Committee on Natural Resources. He is also a member of Parliament’s Business Committee.
After completing his law degree, Oboth-Oboth worked as Deputy Attorney General for the Tieng Adhola Cultural Institution before joining the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs as a State Attorney based in Mbale.
In 2007, he left government service to pursue a master’s degree in election and cyber law at the University of Minnesota in the United States.
When he returned to Uganda in 2010, he joined active politics and used the networks he had built abroad to attract development partners and community projects to his constituency, helping him gain political support.
Oboth-Oboth was first elected to Parliament in 2011 as an Independent candidate after defeating then State Minister for Labour, Dr Emmanuel Otaala. Otaala later challenged the results in court but lost the case.
He was re-elected in 2016, becoming the first politician since 1996 to win two consecutive parliamentary terms in West Budama South.
During the 9th Parliament, Oboth-Oboth chaired the Committee on Rules, Discipline and Privileges and also led the parliamentary ad hoc committee that investigated Uganda’s electricity sub-sector.
He later went on to chair the Committee on Natural Resources before taking up his current leadership role on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee.
Jacob Oboth-Oboth has previously attempted to contest for the position of Speaker twice — in 2021 and again in 2022 following the death of former Speaker Jacob Oulanyah. However, he later withdrew from both races.
