Young Parliamentarians Association is a joke
Aug 05, 2007
The Young Parliamentarians Association (YPA) was last week revived with the outspoken NRM MP, Henry Banyenzaki as its chairman and FDC firebrand Odonga Otto as his deputy. The group spearheaded the censure of two ministers in the Sixth Parliament; Jim Muhwezi and Sam Kutesa. Hamis Kaheru and Madinah
The Young Parliamentarians Association (YPA) was last week revived with the outspoken NRM MP, Henry Banyenzaki as its chairman and FDC firebrand Odonga Otto as his deputy. The group spearheaded the censure of two ministers in the Sixth Parliament; Jim Muhwezi and Sam Kutesa. Hamis Kaheru and Madinah Tebajjukira interviewed former MP Aggrey Awori on whether the group is viable...
QUESTION: The YPA is back. Is there reason for anyone to get worried?
ANSWER: This situation is almost childish. It’s not sustainable. YPA could only exist before multiparty politics. It can’t exist now.
QUESTION: It’s an association, not a party
ANSWER: An association of what? FDC will tell Otto ‘you toe our line’, NRM will tell Banyenzaki ‘you toe our line’. If you don’t they refer your matter to the National Executive Committee and they denounce you, withdraw their support and expel you from the party. Can you come back to Parliament on YPA ticket? You would have to register YPA as a political party. So, what they are doing is childish. It is outdated.
QUESTION: Can’t MPs form associations and continue listening to their parties?
ANSWER: You can’t serve two masters. Parliament is a place of issues; it is not a place of enjoyment. MPs talk policies. If you belong to both NRM and the association, if an issue comes up regarding military training, and YPA opposes it, the party will ask you, ‘are going with your association or you are coming with us as a party?’ If you say ‘I am going with my association,’ they will ask you ‘who sponsored you, on whose ticket are you in Parliament?’ Then you say NRM. The party will tell you ‘then you come with us or else you are out and we look for someone else who will come with us and you remain with your association.’ YPA is not a registered political party. How will you go to Parliament? As an independent? That is why I am saying it’s childish and outdated.
QUESTION: So what is your advice to them?
ANSWER: To go back and reform their respective political parties. Let Banyenzaki influence things in NRM. Let Otto influence events in FDC. You can be effective in Parliament without necessarily setting up new political parties like some of us were. Otto and Banyenzaki are going back 18 months ago. I don’t think they have understood the new political dispensation. They still have the hangover of individual merit.
QUESTION: Are you going to educate them about the new dispensation?
ANSWER: I am going to be appearing on radio talkshows and I will tell Otto that ‘why are you going back 18 months ago? You want to go back to the Mercedes Benz of the 1940s. It is totally outdated.’
QUESTION: Is it only hangover?
ANSWER: It also shows lack of discipline on their part. If you belong to any organisation it has its own rules. You have to follow those rules. You have to toe the line.
QUESTION: Where they go wrong you don’t tell them?
ANSWER: You tell them and if you don’t like the rules you amend them. If you fail to amend them from within and you don’t like that, you go out of the party. The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, was in DP. He disagreed with DP, left and joined FDC. Likewise, if Otto doesn’t like FDC, he should join another party, either DP, UPC or NRM. Moreover he was sponsored by NRM to join the Seventh Parliament. We know him. He was a youth leader on my presidential campaign team.
QUESTION: Why don’t you convince him to follow you to NRM?
ANSWER: He is an adult now. He should know. But the way events are going, he has no choice but to quit FDC.
QUESTION: Has FDC become too small for him?
ANSWER: As they are saying, they want to grab national leadership. They will not grab national leadership through a minority party — FDC, UPC or DP. There is no way you are going to go to State House except through election or a coup. For election, to jump from 46 seats or even 56 to 200 or 300, it is not easy. And you cannot stand as an independent presidential candidate and win an election in this country. If Otto is going to stand as an independent it is not going to be easy. Even for FDC to nominate him, it is not going to be easy.
QUESTION: Banyenzaki was in the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) so he knows what he wants?
ANSWER: Banyenzaki is trying to establish himself as a great parliamentarian. But he should stick to issues and rules. If he keeps reacting to events, it will not take him far.
QUESTION: The siege of the High Court he opposed was not an issue?
ANSWER: Those are what I call procedural issues; that someone did something the wrong way. If somebody wanted to abolish the judiciary, that is a national matter, constitutionally. That is when you take it up. It is no longer procedural. It is a principle. Even the Mabira issue was procedural. If they wanted to shake the Government, they should have moved a motion to censure the minister of natural resources like we used to do in the in the Sixth Parliament, instead of going to the streets to demonstrate. Event the demonstration was hijacked by hawkers, so they lost out.
QUESTION: Can YPA spearhead another censure?
ANSWER: How? They cannot get the numbers. Do you think an NRM MP will sign a petition to remove an NRM minister? You do that, you are assured of exit. That is what multiparty politics is all about. You vote against me on a crucial matter, the door is open. If you vote in Parliament against your political party on a crucial matter, they will summon you at your party headquarters, discipline you and if you are very unlucky they show you the door. Once they withdraw your party card, how will you remain in Parliament?
QUESTION: Are you saying YPA is useless?
ANSWER: It is a non-starter. Those days are gone. That was when we were still looking around for where to put your anchor. Now places have been established. There is DP, NRM, UPC, FDC and others. The Ottos could have gone to independents, which is quite a block. But even among independents there are no young parliamentarians; may be one or two. Some of the independents belonged to NRM originally but they lost during primaries and went on their own to challenge NRM candidates. If you want effective young parliamentarians, you have to form your own party. That is the only way. Other than that, they are joking. But how many young parliamentarians can Banyenzaki mobilise within NRM so that they can take over the political or parliamentary leadership of NRM? The days of young parliamentarians are gone.
QUESTION: The YPA is back. Is there reason for anyone to get worried?
ANSWER: This situation is almost childish. It’s not sustainable. YPA could only exist before multiparty politics. It can’t exist now.
QUESTION: It’s an association, not a party
ANSWER: An association of what? FDC will tell Otto ‘you toe our line’, NRM will tell Banyenzaki ‘you toe our line’. If you don’t they refer your matter to the National Executive Committee and they denounce you, withdraw their support and expel you from the party. Can you come back to Parliament on YPA ticket? You would have to register YPA as a political party. So, what they are doing is childish. It is outdated.
QUESTION: Can’t MPs form associations and continue listening to their parties?
ANSWER: You can’t serve two masters. Parliament is a place of issues; it is not a place of enjoyment. MPs talk policies. If you belong to both NRM and the association, if an issue comes up regarding military training, and YPA opposes it, the party will ask you, ‘are going with your association or you are coming with us as a party?’ If you say ‘I am going with my association,’ they will ask you ‘who sponsored you, on whose ticket are you in Parliament?’ Then you say NRM. The party will tell you ‘then you come with us or else you are out and we look for someone else who will come with us and you remain with your association.’ YPA is not a registered political party. How will you go to Parliament? As an independent? That is why I am saying it’s childish and outdated.
QUESTION: So what is your advice to them?
ANSWER: To go back and reform their respective political parties. Let Banyenzaki influence things in NRM. Let Otto influence events in FDC. You can be effective in Parliament without necessarily setting up new political parties like some of us were. Otto and Banyenzaki are going back 18 months ago. I don’t think they have understood the new political dispensation. They still have the hangover of individual merit.
QUESTION: Are you going to educate them about the new dispensation?
ANSWER: I am going to be appearing on radio talkshows and I will tell Otto that ‘why are you going back 18 months ago? You want to go back to the Mercedes Benz of the 1940s. It is totally outdated.’
QUESTION: Is it only hangover?
ANSWER: It also shows lack of discipline on their part. If you belong to any organisation it has its own rules. You have to follow those rules. You have to toe the line.
QUESTION: Where they go wrong you don’t tell them?
ANSWER: You tell them and if you don’t like the rules you amend them. If you fail to amend them from within and you don’t like that, you go out of the party. The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, was in DP. He disagreed with DP, left and joined FDC. Likewise, if Otto doesn’t like FDC, he should join another party, either DP, UPC or NRM. Moreover he was sponsored by NRM to join the Seventh Parliament. We know him. He was a youth leader on my presidential campaign team.
QUESTION: Why don’t you convince him to follow you to NRM?
ANSWER: He is an adult now. He should know. But the way events are going, he has no choice but to quit FDC.
QUESTION: Has FDC become too small for him?
ANSWER: As they are saying, they want to grab national leadership. They will not grab national leadership through a minority party — FDC, UPC or DP. There is no way you are going to go to State House except through election or a coup. For election, to jump from 46 seats or even 56 to 200 or 300, it is not easy. And you cannot stand as an independent presidential candidate and win an election in this country. If Otto is going to stand as an independent it is not going to be easy. Even for FDC to nominate him, it is not going to be easy.
QUESTION: Banyenzaki was in the Parliamentary Advocacy Forum (PAFO) so he knows what he wants?
ANSWER: Banyenzaki is trying to establish himself as a great parliamentarian. But he should stick to issues and rules. If he keeps reacting to events, it will not take him far.
QUESTION: The siege of the High Court he opposed was not an issue?
ANSWER: Those are what I call procedural issues; that someone did something the wrong way. If somebody wanted to abolish the judiciary, that is a national matter, constitutionally. That is when you take it up. It is no longer procedural. It is a principle. Even the Mabira issue was procedural. If they wanted to shake the Government, they should have moved a motion to censure the minister of natural resources like we used to do in the in the Sixth Parliament, instead of going to the streets to demonstrate. Event the demonstration was hijacked by hawkers, so they lost out.
QUESTION: Can YPA spearhead another censure?
ANSWER: How? They cannot get the numbers. Do you think an NRM MP will sign a petition to remove an NRM minister? You do that, you are assured of exit. That is what multiparty politics is all about. You vote against me on a crucial matter, the door is open. If you vote in Parliament against your political party on a crucial matter, they will summon you at your party headquarters, discipline you and if you are very unlucky they show you the door. Once they withdraw your party card, how will you remain in Parliament?
QUESTION: Are you saying YPA is useless?
ANSWER: It is a non-starter. Those days are gone. That was when we were still looking around for where to put your anchor. Now places have been established. There is DP, NRM, UPC, FDC and others. The Ottos could have gone to independents, which is quite a block. But even among independents there are no young parliamentarians; may be one or two. Some of the independents belonged to NRM originally but they lost during primaries and went on their own to challenge NRM candidates. If you want effective young parliamentarians, you have to form your own party. That is the only way. Other than that, they are joking. But how many young parliamentarians can Banyenzaki mobilise within NRM so that they can take over the political or parliamentary leadership of NRM? The days of young parliamentarians are gone.