OF THE UGANDAN PARLIAMENT AND AN OVERZEALOUS LEADER
For long or may be and specifically the past 3 years i have particularly been an ardent follower but largely a critic of this 9th Parliament. Why? We have the largest yet very unproductive parliament; an overly rated partisan parliament that only boosts of numeric strength rather than having a coherent national strategy; a group of 'legislators' that need to learn legislative principals and in a way get an understanding of constitutionalism; a group highly burdensome to both themselves and more painfully to the tax payers; a group that has taken their legislative duties as a favor rather than rather a service to the nation; and profoundly a group that has demonstrated the inability to rebuild our confidence as the 'people's voice'. All surveys and assessments carried out on this particular august house could actually leave us with just about 15% of parliamentarians who can pass the leadership litmus test.
Certainly these matters are not new and have evidently led to many questions pointing to the management style of our parliament who for so many reasons cannot justify their role in that house. Today a Ugx. 36,000,000,000 parking yard for the parliamentarians has just been launched by the speaker....a week ago a handsome budget of Ugx. 1,000,000,000 from the initial budget of Ugx. 750,000,000 for 386 ipads was approved....recently a day care was opened up for the families of the parliamentarians...also a plot had been hunched to have a certain bank clear all their personal debts at the expense of the tax payer....to tomorrow it could be meeting their wedding expenses.
Anyways back to the purchase of ipads. The reason given for purchasing these gadgets was to cut the Ugx. 200,000,000 annual expenditure on printing and photocopying - basic mathematics shows that nothing has been saved. But even then considering that these legislators are here to serve a 5 year term and there after - will they return these gadgets?? My prayer is that most of them are not voted back to the house. The computation shows that it would still translate back to the same figure, yet ideally any Ugandan earning that much as the MPs should be able to own such a gadget if they deem it necessary to have one. This is another disappointment especially given the recent demands for a merge 20% increment for teacher's wages that were gagged with threats and empty promises as innocent students were left in a dilemma.
The justification of having a whole village of representatives does not hold any water - i strongly suggest, if possible a total overhaul of this parliament otherwise we are bleeding with pain.
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Bearing in mind the passionate views recently expressed by the voters who have been eagerly waiting for their MPs to pay a visit to their constituencies during their recess - not to campaign for 2016 as they are already doing but to figure out and chat a way forward on the biting challenges faced by their people; Some of these MPs are simply visitors to their constituencies; very unfortunate as it may be seen, it is pointless to rethink that some of these non-performing MPs after this absurd show will walk back to the house come 2016.
At the beginning of this year, i had made mention of this unbecoming burden that has been pushed to the tax payers. I have always wondered why every district should have almost 5 political representatives in parliament yet their impact has proved otherwise detrimental. In the house the strength of partisan numbers counts more than the power of unity for a nationalistic cause. For instance one of the media houses has been running a pictorial hygiene campaign on every district, i would expect MPs to these respective constituencies to investigate the dare filth, broken drainage systems, open sewers and dilapidated infrastructures for districts that are periodically given billions for infrastructural development. Another media house has been running the rot in our so called hospitals that lack power, have no staff, full of filth, no drugs and poorly facilitated medical officers - the health centers and government hospitals have turned out in to a silent death trap for many. I have not heard of a new health or hygiene or financial bill to deal with the critical needs of the people.
However given all this coverage, MPs & Ministers are busy trading political wars over non-issues, in the end stepping beyond their jurisdiction. The real issues at hand are obvious - the alarmingly defunct health centers and government hospitals, the dilapidated road infrastructure, the limping social amenities, the high inflation, the exorbitant loan interest rates and the unbearable government expenditure without exception of the MPs themselves.
To an extent though harsh, i must admit that our opinions must suggest and even generate alternatives. However examining the trends of events in our parliament to this day, there may not be anything to suggest to a people whose hearts have been hardened to think and act towards a certain direction.
John C. Maxwell's assertion that "A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them" is far from the thinking of many. I believe that most committee members together with the Deputy Speaker were never selected based on integrity, character, leadership skills and for national interest; rather it was selectively done to rubber stamp the political ideological of the ruling party and thats why i think most of the parliamentarians have reconfigured their personality trait to suit a certain ideological setting that compromises a thought process that reasons beyond their personal needs.
I witnessed with disbelief a few weeks ago as a one Hon. Semujju Ngenda was being roughed up and brutally carried out of house - the deputy speaker was demanding for an apology. How i wish a similar incident could happen to all non-performers and frequent dodgers. However this is lawlessness from a man who has failed to learn basic management skills from his boss, the Speaker who though has endured massive pressure has run the house on the basis of the rules and procedures that be. I think the deputy many a time has made unthinkable decisions uncharacteristic of his political experience.
Exhaustive as it sounds, we do not have a healthy working parliament - as our seek God's intervention on this, there is also need for a comprehensive surgical operation.
Certainly these matters are not new and have evidently led to many questions pointing to the management style of our parliament who for so many reasons cannot justify their role in that house. Today a Ugx. 36,000,000,000 parking yard for the parliamentarians has just been launched by the speaker....a week ago a handsome budget of Ugx. 1,000,000,000 from the initial budget of Ugx. 750,000,000 for 386 ipads was approved....recently a day care was opened up for the families of the parliamentarians...also a plot had been hunched to have a certain bank clear all their personal debts at the expense of the tax payer....to tomorrow it could be meeting their wedding expenses.
Anyways back to the purchase of ipads. The reason given for purchasing these gadgets was to cut the Ugx. 200,000,000 annual expenditure on printing and photocopying - basic mathematics shows that nothing has been saved. But even then considering that these legislators are here to serve a 5 year term and there after - will they return these gadgets?? My prayer is that most of them are not voted back to the house. The computation shows that it would still translate back to the same figure, yet ideally any Ugandan earning that much as the MPs should be able to own such a gadget if they deem it necessary to have one. This is another disappointment especially given the recent demands for a merge 20% increment for teacher's wages that were gagged with threats and empty promises as innocent students were left in a dilemma.
The justification of having a whole village of representatives does not hold any water - i strongly suggest, if possible a total overhaul of this parliament otherwise we are bleeding with pain.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bearing in mind the passionate views recently expressed by the voters who have been eagerly waiting for their MPs to pay a visit to their constituencies during their recess - not to campaign for 2016 as they are already doing but to figure out and chat a way forward on the biting challenges faced by their people; Some of these MPs are simply visitors to their constituencies; very unfortunate as it may be seen, it is pointless to rethink that some of these non-performing MPs after this absurd show will walk back to the house come 2016.
At the beginning of this year, i had made mention of this unbecoming burden that has been pushed to the tax payers. I have always wondered why every district should have almost 5 political representatives in parliament yet their impact has proved otherwise detrimental. In the house the strength of partisan numbers counts more than the power of unity for a nationalistic cause. For instance one of the media houses has been running a pictorial hygiene campaign on every district, i would expect MPs to these respective constituencies to investigate the dare filth, broken drainage systems, open sewers and dilapidated infrastructures for districts that are periodically given billions for infrastructural development. Another media house has been running the rot in our so called hospitals that lack power, have no staff, full of filth, no drugs and poorly facilitated medical officers - the health centers and government hospitals have turned out in to a silent death trap for many. I have not heard of a new health or hygiene or financial bill to deal with the critical needs of the people.
However given all this coverage, MPs & Ministers are busy trading political wars over non-issues, in the end stepping beyond their jurisdiction. The real issues at hand are obvious - the alarmingly defunct health centers and government hospitals, the dilapidated road infrastructure, the limping social amenities, the high inflation, the exorbitant loan interest rates and the unbearable government expenditure without exception of the MPs themselves.
To an extent though harsh, i must admit that our opinions must suggest and even generate alternatives. However examining the trends of events in our parliament to this day, there may not be anything to suggest to a people whose hearts have been hardened to think and act towards a certain direction.
John C. Maxwell's assertion that "A man must be big enough to admit his mistakes, smart enough to profit from them, and strong enough to correct them" is far from the thinking of many. I believe that most committee members together with the Deputy Speaker were never selected based on integrity, character, leadership skills and for national interest; rather it was selectively done to rubber stamp the political ideological of the ruling party and thats why i think most of the parliamentarians have reconfigured their personality trait to suit a certain ideological setting that compromises a thought process that reasons beyond their personal needs.
I witnessed with disbelief a few weeks ago as a one Hon. Semujju Ngenda was being roughed up and brutally carried out of house - the deputy speaker was demanding for an apology. How i wish a similar incident could happen to all non-performers and frequent dodgers. However this is lawlessness from a man who has failed to learn basic management skills from his boss, the Speaker who though has endured massive pressure has run the house on the basis of the rules and procedures that be. I think the deputy many a time has made unthinkable decisions uncharacteristic of his political experience.
Exhaustive as it sounds, we do not have a healthy working parliament - as our seek God's intervention on this, there is also need for a comprehensive surgical operation.
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