The Archbishop of Church of Uganda, The Most Rt. Rev. Stanley Ntagali, has in a prayer,  anointed and dedicated primary seven candidates of Kampala Parents’ School (KPS) to God ahead of Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) that kick off next Monday.

The dedication service kicked off at 7:00 am in the Main Hall with praise and worship songs, led by the pupils’ choir. The 236 prepared candidates are among several others that will sit for the exams administered by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).

With sermons derived from the book of Proverbs Chapter Two, the Archbishop urged all candidates to do their best and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ if they are to succeed in the forthcoming exams. He applauded the school for keeping children from all religions, saying the Bible teaches children will inherit God’s kingdom.

“It is my prayer that the lord grants knowledge to remember all you have read in the past years and stay focused for achievement of your dreams,” he prayed.

The school Principal, Kato Daphine, lauded the Archbishop for special moment of dedicating candidates to the Lord, “This is a special moment, thank you for accepting our invitation may the good Lord bless you,” she said.

She called on parents to bring more children to the school, saying it is on international standard with well facilitated buildings, library and committed to delivering best education services to both local and international pupils.

Reminiscing her seven year education journey at the school, the students’ representative who is also a candidate, Natasha Byarugaba, said, “It is like yesterday when them to the school and crying to go back with their parents after being dropped at school gate.”

“The Principal has always been there for us every morning to receive us, guide, and encouraging and giving us a good morning as we step into school,” she said.

She pledged never to disappoint their teachers after seven years of study. She also thanked parents who stood with them as they braved the cold mornings to bring them to school.

The state minister of land, Persis Namuganza who is also a parent at the school, lauded the school for helping government in providing quality education to Ugandan children.

“’This is a good school, last year my son scored four aggregates and this indicates that this is a good school with favorable environment that allows children to learn. To all parents, thank you for choosing Kampala parents,” she said.

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Members of Parliaments (MPs) and the civil society organisations (CSOs) are reviewing the performance of the 10th Parliament, with prominence being given to ways of deepening citizen involvement.

The 3rd Annual Legislative Sector Review, running under the theme, “Legislating for good governance and sustainable development” saw the discussion of MPs pay, the institution’s budget and citizen involvement in the activities of the legislature.

The Clerk to Parliament, Jane Kibirige, said the year’s review is critical as resolutions will feed into the next phase of the sector’s strategic plan.

“The timing and discussions of this 3rd review are critical to the works of Parliament in three ways: first, it focuses on the mid-term performance of the 10th Parliament…feed into the design of the priority areas of the sector and the formulation of the next strategic plan,” said Kibirge.

Prominent in the discussion was the issue of MPs emoluments, which is an emotive issue that has seen Parliament suffer criticism from a section of the public and members of the civil society.

MP Jacob Oboth Oboth (IND. West Budama County South), also Chairperson of the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, blamed CSOs for habitually bashing MPs on the issue of their emoluments without suggesting alternatives.

“Those who are bashing us do not understand the issue of the independence of Parliament; how do you place the issue of Parliament’s budget under another authority,” he said.

“Parliament currently has 3 per cent of the National Budget and most of its priorities are unfunded, how do you relate that with the criticism we always receive for some of the entitlements we earn?” he added.

The Director of Clerks, Emmanuel Bakwega, suggested an alternative to end the current impasse over budget allocation to MPs.

“I think there should be a way to resolve this issue permanently through legislation and expressly including a certain percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (literally the monetary value of the economy) and then Parliament works within that,” said Mr Bakwega.

MP Hellen Asamo (NRM, PWD Eastern Region) said as people with disabilities, Parliament has done so much with regards to making the institution physically accessible, but that the biggest problem is with access to documents and other services that are needed to aid PWDs.

MPs and stakeholders agreed on the need to enrich Parliament with human and financial resources, which they said are important in as far as getting Parliament closer to the people and dealing with post-legislative scrutiny.

MP Agnes Ameede (NRM, Butebo District) said going forward, Parliament should increase the number of research officers to better the quality of output at Parliament.

The review runs from October 30, 2019 to November 1, 2019.

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