The 9th Parliament should not letdown Ugandans
Mar 28, 2011
I would like to congratulate all those who won parliamentary seats in the just concluded elections. You deserve to be applauded for your victory because it may not have been easy.
By Patrick Ajuna
I would like to congratulate all those who won parliamentary seats in the just concluded elections. You deserve to be applauded for your victory because it may not have been easy.
A lot of resources were used ranging from money, time, to deploying human resources to make you win the elections.
However, as you wait to be sworn in and officially assume your new title as Members of Parliament in May, I would like to remind you of the main things that characterised the 8th Parliament which did not depict a good image to deserve the title of honourable members.
As soon as they were sworn in, one of the first issues on the agenda was to move a motion for their salary increment and pension entitlement yet there were many pressing issues to be debated on at the time. This clearly showed that those people were greedy and hungry for money and because of this, some of us lost confidence in them from the onset. As it turned out we were right based on what transpired in the 8th Parliament from then up to now.
Among the many things that characterised the 8th parliament were; the controversial passing of bills into laws, absenteeism, misconduct of some members which resulted into their suspension from the house.The breaking of the parliamentary door, arrogance, where some members had persistently refused to face the parliamentary committee for questioning on the issues of concern, corruption where our MP’s accounts were credited with sh20m, but very few were able to return the money to the treasury were some of the things which characterised this Parliament.
Also, the greed for money is evidenced by the misuse of the Constituency Development Fund by our MPs which is turned into their personal funds. All these point to one thing — selfishness and individualistic tendencies which has denied the public important services because a lot of money was misused.
All the above did not go unnoticed by the public as a good number of those who were in the 8th Parliament have lost their seats.
There should be no excuse for diverting Constituency Development Funds for personal use or being corrupt while in Parliament because parliamentary representation is a voluntary service and not a job. Secondly, nobody was forced to stand for it.
In view of this, therefore, as MPs assume their duties in the 9th Parliament, they should bear in mind that the electorates demand effective parliamentary representation. Short of that, they will not be re-eleceted in 2016.
The people of Uganda are enlightened and should not be taken for granted.
Since there are many new faces and promising brains in the 9th Parliament, Ugandans are waiting for them with a lot of expectation to determine the direction of Uganda in the next five years. Please do not let us down.
The writer holds a master’s of arts degree in Educational Policy and Planning
I would like to congratulate all those who won parliamentary seats in the just concluded elections. You deserve to be applauded for your victory because it may not have been easy.
A lot of resources were used ranging from money, time, to deploying human resources to make you win the elections.
However, as you wait to be sworn in and officially assume your new title as Members of Parliament in May, I would like to remind you of the main things that characterised the 8th Parliament which did not depict a good image to deserve the title of honourable members.
As soon as they were sworn in, one of the first issues on the agenda was to move a motion for their salary increment and pension entitlement yet there were many pressing issues to be debated on at the time. This clearly showed that those people were greedy and hungry for money and because of this, some of us lost confidence in them from the onset. As it turned out we were right based on what transpired in the 8th Parliament from then up to now.
Among the many things that characterised the 8th parliament were; the controversial passing of bills into laws, absenteeism, misconduct of some members which resulted into their suspension from the house.The breaking of the parliamentary door, arrogance, where some members had persistently refused to face the parliamentary committee for questioning on the issues of concern, corruption where our MP’s accounts were credited with sh20m, but very few were able to return the money to the treasury were some of the things which characterised this Parliament.
Also, the greed for money is evidenced by the misuse of the Constituency Development Fund by our MPs which is turned into their personal funds. All these point to one thing — selfishness and individualistic tendencies which has denied the public important services because a lot of money was misused.
All the above did not go unnoticed by the public as a good number of those who were in the 8th Parliament have lost their seats.
There should be no excuse for diverting Constituency Development Funds for personal use or being corrupt while in Parliament because parliamentary representation is a voluntary service and not a job. Secondly, nobody was forced to stand for it.
In view of this, therefore, as MPs assume their duties in the 9th Parliament, they should bear in mind that the electorates demand effective parliamentary representation. Short of that, they will not be re-eleceted in 2016.
The people of Uganda are enlightened and should not be taken for granted.
Since there are many new faces and promising brains in the 9th Parliament, Ugandans are waiting for them with a lot of expectation to determine the direction of Uganda in the next five years. Please do not let us down.
The writer holds a master’s of arts degree in Educational Policy and Planning