Nyombi Tembo’s list of shame!
Sep 20, 2006
SIR — The Kassanda South MP, Nyombi Tembo insults Ugandans in the New Vision of September 14 when he tries to justify MPs’ huge pay with a list of petty demands that the tax payer should foot.
SIR — The Kassanda South MP, Nyombi Tembo insults Ugandans in the New Vision of September 14 when he tries to justify MPs’ huge pay with a list of petty demands that the tax payer should foot. Mr Nyombi, your list is a list of shame. It is time people who cannot raise funds from elsewhere to fund their programmes stopped running for office. Being an MP does not mean that the taxpayer must fulfil all your dreams. Let’s go through Nyombi’s list.
He wants sh600,000 for vehicle maintenance. Why do you have a vehicle anyway? If you legislators cared to improve public transport, Nyombi should be able to jump onto a bus from Kassanda (or some Kampala suburb) to Parliament. MPs and ministers from some of the more developed countries walk to office! Nyombi and his colleagues want us to believe that if an MP walks to Parliament his arguments (if he had any) evaporate.
Travel to constituency — sh1.2m. With efficient public transport this should be down to a few thousand shillings.
Drivers’ pay—
sh300,000. Drive your own car (if at all you need one). MPs’ cars are personal cars. Why should the taxpayer pay someone to driver your personal car? Taxes are only paid for government drivers, in government cars.
Telephone costs —
sh 800,000. An MP as a politician should be able to meet his telephone bills. Taxpayers’ should not pay phone bills for your ‘partisan’ political work or calls to your girlfriends.
Office hire in the constituency — sh100,000. Mr Nyombi represents the NRM in Parliament, which party already has several offices in his constituency. Why would he need another office paid for by the taxpayer?
Office attendant —
sh200,000. This is a political employee. If needed, he should be employed by the party not by Nyombi, using funds from the treasury.
Social obligation — (funerals, fundraising etc) sh1.5m. Why should your employer pay for all the burials you want to attend? Nyombi, you can donate like Ezra if you wish, but not from our pockets!
I agree with Thembo that an MP needs resources. Where I disagree with him is that he should raise this money from public tax. An MP worth his salt should be able to raise funds from other means. If he cannot raise his own money (within the existing rules) he has no business in the House. In the current multi-party parliament, MPs represent different parties selling different ideas to the country. The one who markets his ideas best wins the elections and governs. If we fund MPs heavily, we will be giving them undue advantage over other politicians with competing ideas. They will be using taxpayers’ money to compete with people who are using personal funds to present alternative programmes.
Joseline Akampurira
Kampala
SIR — I commend Mr Nyombi Tembo for having told the public the Mps’ side of the story to justify the demands they put before the national treasury. There is one important issue which our legislators should give a second thought if they are going to bring a long-term solution to some of their challenges and those facing their constituents. Both the MPs and the people who send them agree that most of the roads in the rural areas still look like the trade routes which were used by slave traders. I wonder if the MPs intend to drive their poweful vehicles on footpaths. If the government seeks to take services closer to the people, then the MPs should be demanding for more and better roads in their constituencies. If the treasury has no problem buying the cars, then Uganda has a priorities problem. Most of the MPs may not know that the roads link peasants to markets and open up opportunities for them. The sh20b should be used on roads.
Frank Birondwa
Makerere University
SIR — Our MPs are unhappy that MPs in Kenya and Tanzania earn much more than they do. They should take heart.
This is the same fate their constituents share. They also earn much less that their counterparts in kenya and Tanzania and still fund the exorbitant lifestyles of the Nyombi Tembos of this world. If power really belongs to the people, this exploitation must stop. On the issue of money, there is no difference of opinion between the opposition and the NRM. Talk of oppportunism!
J. Mbaroraburora
Hoima
He wants sh600,000 for vehicle maintenance. Why do you have a vehicle anyway? If you legislators cared to improve public transport, Nyombi should be able to jump onto a bus from Kassanda (or some Kampala suburb) to Parliament. MPs and ministers from some of the more developed countries walk to office! Nyombi and his colleagues want us to believe that if an MP walks to Parliament his arguments (if he had any) evaporate.
Travel to constituency — sh1.2m. With efficient public transport this should be down to a few thousand shillings.
Drivers’ pay—
sh300,000. Drive your own car (if at all you need one). MPs’ cars are personal cars. Why should the taxpayer pay someone to driver your personal car? Taxes are only paid for government drivers, in government cars.
Telephone costs —
sh 800,000. An MP as a politician should be able to meet his telephone bills. Taxpayers’ should not pay phone bills for your ‘partisan’ political work or calls to your girlfriends.
Office hire in the constituency — sh100,000. Mr Nyombi represents the NRM in Parliament, which party already has several offices in his constituency. Why would he need another office paid for by the taxpayer?
Office attendant —
sh200,000. This is a political employee. If needed, he should be employed by the party not by Nyombi, using funds from the treasury.
Social obligation — (funerals, fundraising etc) sh1.5m. Why should your employer pay for all the burials you want to attend? Nyombi, you can donate like Ezra if you wish, but not from our pockets!
I agree with Thembo that an MP needs resources. Where I disagree with him is that he should raise this money from public tax. An MP worth his salt should be able to raise funds from other means. If he cannot raise his own money (within the existing rules) he has no business in the House. In the current multi-party parliament, MPs represent different parties selling different ideas to the country. The one who markets his ideas best wins the elections and governs. If we fund MPs heavily, we will be giving them undue advantage over other politicians with competing ideas. They will be using taxpayers’ money to compete with people who are using personal funds to present alternative programmes.
Joseline Akampurira
Kampala
SIR — I commend Mr Nyombi Tembo for having told the public the Mps’ side of the story to justify the demands they put before the national treasury. There is one important issue which our legislators should give a second thought if they are going to bring a long-term solution to some of their challenges and those facing their constituents. Both the MPs and the people who send them agree that most of the roads in the rural areas still look like the trade routes which were used by slave traders. I wonder if the MPs intend to drive their poweful vehicles on footpaths. If the government seeks to take services closer to the people, then the MPs should be demanding for more and better roads in their constituencies. If the treasury has no problem buying the cars, then Uganda has a priorities problem. Most of the MPs may not know that the roads link peasants to markets and open up opportunities for them. The sh20b should be used on roads.
Frank Birondwa
Makerere University
SIR — Our MPs are unhappy that MPs in Kenya and Tanzania earn much more than they do. They should take heart.
This is the same fate their constituents share. They also earn much less that their counterparts in kenya and Tanzania and still fund the exorbitant lifestyles of the Nyombi Tembos of this world. If power really belongs to the people, this exploitation must stop. On the issue of money, there is no difference of opinion between the opposition and the NRM. Talk of oppportunism!
J. Mbaroraburora
Hoima