Parliament has become toothless — FDC

Sep 09, 2014

The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party says the Ninth Parliament has lost much of the aura it had at the beginning of its tenure in 2011.

By Moses Walubiri and Nicholas Wassajja

The opposition Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party says the Ninth Parliament has lost much of the aura it had at the beginning of its tenure in 2011.


Commenting about the capacity of Parliament to approve “a people friendly” budget for the current financial year, the FDC spokesperson, John Kikonyogo, yesterday poured scorn on an institution whose members, he said, are sinking in debt.

 
In accordance with Article 155(4) of the Constitution, Parliament is currently scrutinising budget estimates for different ministries and other government departments.

 

The process is expected to be completed before mid this month.

 

“We have lost confidence in Parliament,” Kikonyogo told journalists at FDC headquarters, adding: “You have a Parliament that is largely dominated by one party and whose members are allegedly being bailed out of their debt obligations by the Government.”

 

“He who pays the piper calls the tune,” Kikonyogo said.

 

Out of the 375 elected MPs, FDC, which is the biggest opposition party, has 36 legislators compared to NRM’s 260. The Democratic Party and Uganda People’s Congress have 13 and 10 MPs respectively, while both the Justice Forum and Conservative Party have one each.

 

Kikonyogo cited the bipartisan spirit that was the hallmark of the Ninth Parliament at its inception, saying its erosion over time, has reduced Parliament to a limping institution, incapable of checking the excesses of the executive.

 

Largely composed of MPs below 40 years, the Ninth Parliament started off with a bang, exuding an unprecedented bipartisan spirit that caught the executive flatfooted.

 

In the Ninth Parliament’s heydays, the ruling NRM had to conduct several caucus meetings to whip its ‘errant’ members into line, as the stalemate over some contentious clauses in the Petroleum (Exploration, Development and Production) Bill, 2012, became protracted.

 

The Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, has also made a concerted effort to turn the institution into a people-centred arm of government, receiving an avalanche of petitions from a cross-section of Ugandans.

 

However, following the decision by the NRM disciplinary committee to boot out four legislators —Muhammad Nsereko, Barnabas Tinkasiimire, Theodore Ssekikubo and Wilfred Niwagaba — over accusations of indiscipline, a number of hitherto firebrand NRM lawmakers have gone mute.

 

Parliament spokesperson Helen Kawesa, however, downplayed FDC’s concerns, labelling Kikonyogo’s comments about MPs’ indebtedness “unfair.”

 

“It is unfair to say Parliament is limping simply because some MPs have loans to clear. Parliament has passed a number of Bills and MPs are carrying out their roles of oversight and representation,” Kawesi said.

 

The head of the Uganda Media Centre and Government spokesperson, Ofwono Opondo, described Kikonyogo’s comments as “admission of failure.”

 

“We have had two cycles of elections and FDC has failed to provide quality alternatives. That is why its number in Parliament reduced from 39 to 36. You do not need 100 MPs to expose flaws of a government,” Ofwono said.

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