Do our MPs live on Mars?
Sep 11, 2006
<b>LETTER OF THE DAY</b><br>SIR — I read with disappointment that our MPs want sh60m each to buy personal cars! All along I thought they had their country at heart as our leaders.
SIR — I read with disappointment that our MPs want sh60m each to buy personal cars! All along I thought they had their country at heart as our leaders.
What a sad situation when our MPs demand over sh20b from taxpayers! Aren’t they aware that Uganda is a highly indebted poor country (HIPC) whose 38% of the population lives below the poverty line? But that is not a problem to our MPs!
While it is true that our roads are in a sorry state, MPs should get a feel of the bad roads if they are to get incentive to fix them.
When politicians are asked to explain why they are in office they will always tell you that “my people have sent me.....†indeed we sent the MPS but is this what we sent them to do? Did we send them to bleed the country white? This is very sad indeed!
In the 7th parliament pictures of some MPs sleeping while debates were going on were published. Of course the 8th parliament is not an exception. We will still see them sleeping only to wake at the voting time.
But what is interesting is that when they are debating about their own welfare all of them are wide awake and there the unity is total. There are no NRM or opposition MPs! I have no problem with the MPs driving luxury cars as long as they buy them from their own salaries.
It is scandalous for them to get taxpayers’ money for their own selfish interests and never even step in their constituencies until the next election. Being an MP is a service above self and leaders are entrusted with the responsibility of running public business in the interest of the people they serve but not the policy.
Unfortunately what we see in Uganda is “for God and my stomachâ€. Teachers, police officers and others are poorly paid in this country. hospitals lack medical equipment and drugs and most roads are in a very poor state. This is not necessarily because we have no resources but because our meagre resources are irrationally allocated. Why can’t our MP think beyond their stomachs?
They live in the same country as their constituents and know what the problems of the people who voted them into office are. Unfortunately, they behave as if they live on Mars! MPs who are sincerely representatives of their constituents should have nothing to do with the matter of vehicles once it is brought for debate.
Patrick Tumwine Kampala
What a sad situation when our MPs demand over sh20b from taxpayers! Aren’t they aware that Uganda is a highly indebted poor country (HIPC) whose 38% of the population lives below the poverty line? But that is not a problem to our MPs!
While it is true that our roads are in a sorry state, MPs should get a feel of the bad roads if they are to get incentive to fix them.
When politicians are asked to explain why they are in office they will always tell you that “my people have sent me.....†indeed we sent the MPS but is this what we sent them to do? Did we send them to bleed the country white? This is very sad indeed!
In the 7th parliament pictures of some MPs sleeping while debates were going on were published. Of course the 8th parliament is not an exception. We will still see them sleeping only to wake at the voting time.
But what is interesting is that when they are debating about their own welfare all of them are wide awake and there the unity is total. There are no NRM or opposition MPs! I have no problem with the MPs driving luxury cars as long as they buy them from their own salaries.
It is scandalous for them to get taxpayers’ money for their own selfish interests and never even step in their constituencies until the next election. Being an MP is a service above self and leaders are entrusted with the responsibility of running public business in the interest of the people they serve but not the policy.
Unfortunately what we see in Uganda is “for God and my stomachâ€. Teachers, police officers and others are poorly paid in this country. hospitals lack medical equipment and drugs and most roads are in a very poor state. This is not necessarily because we have no resources but because our meagre resources are irrationally allocated. Why can’t our MP think beyond their stomachs?
They live in the same country as their constituents and know what the problems of the people who voted them into office are. Unfortunately, they behave as if they live on Mars! MPs who are sincerely representatives of their constituents should have nothing to do with the matter of vehicles once it is brought for debate.
Patrick Tumwine Kampala