The Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda has come out and openly advocated for our Members of Parliament to be paid according to their output. This demand is long overdue! The cardinal responsibilities of any parliamentarian are to legislate, make laws and play an oversight role over the Executive. Instead, it is said our legislators spend most of their time attending funerals, weddings, church fundraisers and some other local functions, in a bid to ‘please’ their constituents, with the hope of being re-elected in the future.
Those activities are neither illegal nor immoral but are a betrayal of the same people who entrusted the MPs with the responsibility of ensuring a fair and just society in which constitutionalism flourishes.
The issue of absenteeism from the House has attracted several people’s attention, among Speaker Rebecca Kadaga and her Deputy Jacob Oulanyah, the deputy Leader of Government Business General Moses Ali, and the Inspector General of Government Lady Justice Irene Mulygonja, both of who have described the MPs’ actions as ‘corrupt’.
Some time back Speaker Kadaga was berating then Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi for paralyzing work in the august house by failing to bring Government bills on the floor of Parliament for debate. She seemed honest in her submission.
But today, about a year since Mbabazi was relieved of his station as leader of government business, the situation in Parliament still seems bleak, with most of the MPs turning villain by absenting themselves and only turning up in the Banks to get their full pay. So recalcitrant have they become that it is not surprising anymore for one to see several empty benches, a situation that has at times prompted the Speaker to adjourn proceedings, causing a logjam that affects government programmes and service delivery. Moreover, in the worst case scenario, there have also been complaints about Parliament reportedly passing laws without quorum, a serious breach of parliamentary procedure and etiquette!
So, since most MPs seem to have abdicated their responsibilities, it is time they are paid by the hour earned, only then will we be able to instill that moral fibre of responsibility that seems to be absent in our parliamentarians.
Thanks ACCU for raising this serious matter of national importance.
