The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Parliament has already rented office space at Kingdom Mall to accommodate some of the large number of legislators. But it is hundreds of metres away from the parliament building where business is conducted in a part of the central business district of the capital city. Oboth blames the slow pace of construction of the proposed new facilities of parliament.
A source familiar with the construction of the building put it at under 35% of the scope of the work. Oboth said the eleventh parliament should be in a conducive environment.
“I think we got a raw deal from Roko (Construction) Ltd. The Judiciary twin towers (under construction) are making more progress yet they started two years after parliament,” Oboth tells The Independent.
But Oboth says he believes in the new team of the Speaker and the deputy; Anita Annet Among, to effectively steer the large House. He says any delays in parliament business have direct effects on ordinary citizens.
“We waste a lot of time in filibustering which delays a lot of work in government,” he says.
Oboth also hopes under Oulanyah, parliament can strike a balance on what he calls matters of representation between what MPs should handle and what should be handled by ministers. Oboth stresses this as a big problem because parliament gets bogged down in the work of cabinet.
“People from constituencies write letters to ministries and because ministries are slow, they take the issues to their representatives. How long should a ministry take to respond?” He asks.
Oboth says the other challenge for Speaker Oulanyah is to prevail on the polarisation that plagued the Tenth parliament. “The new team has a great role to fight what happened in the past. This is the legislative refinery of the country; we have to bring out a legislative product for the whole country.”
He offers more counsel. “We need people to heal. Those who won should not over celebrate and those who lost should not over grieve. We should forge a way forward.”
Henry Musasizi, MP for Rubanda East in Rubanda District and chairman of the parliament committee on finance, says he expects Oulanyah to handle business in a more structured manner and improved time management. “We would meet at 4pm and only discuss matters of national importance.”
Musasizi says Oulanyah is more predictable. “With Oulanyah you can know what you are going to do in one week or in a month. The previous Speaker was ad hoc.’’
Henry Muguzi, executive director of Alliance for Campaign Finance Monitoring (ACFIM), an NGO that tracks money in politics and monitors parliament activities, says Oulanyah needs to unite the House after the polarisation his fight with the former Speaker caused.
Money fights
He says the other challenge is restoring public trust. “Can they meaningfully exercise oversight over the Executive? With how they behaved over Covid money and the fact that 68-70% do not come back to Parliament…”
Muguzi echoes the usual claim that electorate’s trust with their representatives is constantly broken and debates on the floor of parliament do not resonate with the needs of the people. Wednesdays is when MPs are given chance to air out concerns in their constituencies but plenary sessions have over time got sucked in fiery partisan debates and arguments.
Another test for Oulanyah will be how he handles the issue of appropriation, a key function of Parliament, Muguzi says. “Parliament is complicit on the matter of Uganda’s indebtedness. Every time there is a supplementary budget, it passes.” It is not how clear Oulanyah will tame borrowing but borrowing requests from the Ministry of Finance are always approved even after so much grumbling from MPs on finance and other committees.
He adds that Oulanyah will face the challenge of corruption in parliament. Parliament has three standing committees charged with accountability of public monies; Public Accounts Committee (central government), Public Accounts Committee (Local government) and another for Commissions, Statutory Agencies and State Entreprises (COSASE). However members of these committees are often are accused of taking bribes from those they are supposed to check for accountability.
Committee heads may work independently but the Speaker maintains authority on how parliamentary business is conducted.
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Covid-19 is real so please, try your best to save the nation on this matter,
Let Hon. Kadaga give the newly elected speaker his time to do his duties his time has come, he might do better or not.