The passing and later signing into law the controversial Age Limit Bill by Parliament in December last year left the nation divided, with the sections of the electorate turning their anger towards the supporters of the bill.
The Ugandan Parliament hasn’t been spared the public wrath as evidenced in the postings of many who took to social media to castigate the legislative arm after the Speaker Rebecca Kadaga took to twitter to announce the resumption of parliament week activities on its official twitter handle.
“Parliament is set to hold its annual Parliament Week from 2 1st to 27th January 2018 under the theme, ‘Parliament, the voice of the people’. The event will kick off with a fundraising walk which will be flagged off by speaker Rebecca Kadaga,” the tweet read.
But as soon as the tweet was sent out, Ugandans poured to the social media platform to register their disappointment at the theme of the events, some describing it as a ‘bad joke’ simply aimed at mocking Ugandans.
One of the first people to reply to the tweet was Ronald Ngobi, who lashed out at Parliament for pouring salt on wounds, instead of seeking to reconcile the institution with voters.
He said that the theme is just an insult to him and other Ugandans who feel unfairness noting; “I think whoever crafted the theme was somewhat crafty. I would suggest something like, ‘linking the parliament and citizens’. It would provide reconciliation platform,” Ngobi wrote.
Another twitter user who identified as Conveyer Belt was ‘confused’ by the theme, wondering which ‘voice of people’Parliament is and so was Perry Aritua, who asked for clarification from Parliament on ‘which people’ it meant?
It was the same for twitter user only known as Magie and another Matovu Latib.
Another social media user proposed to have the theme changed to; ‘Parliament-The Voice Of The People At Gun Point. Are you guys serious or you are just having a laugh?”
Munna Maganja replied; “Parliament a voice of the people. This is a big joke.”
On the other hand, Comfort Hakim wants Parliament to ‘leave Ugandans alone’ and asked the institution ‘to pass any laws they so wished’.
While Mwanje Peter and Kinawataka Musoke questioned the relevance of Parliament in Uganda saying the citizens aren’t benefitting from it. The two also said that ‘Uganda has no Parliament but just an institution full of greedy people’.
“The voice of hungry wolves ready to suck innocent Ugandans’ blood,” was Masembe Simon’s reaction to the announcement.
However, it was a one Joshua Mwesigwa who awoke the age limit curse, and demanded Parliament not to waste tax payers’ money cleansing the august house of age limit ghosts.
“After Age Limit, you exposed yourselves. Don’t waste tax payers’ money on a public relations opportunity to wash your dirty linen,” Mwesigwa charged.
