Gov't failure to generate business irks Parliament

On Thursday, Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah adjourned the House way before 6pm, the adjournment time stipulated in the rules, because the order paper had been largely exhausted.
After debate on the proposal to hire postgraduate medical students from Makerere College of Health Sciences to fill the staffing gaps in Mulago hospital and a statement on Cage Fishing on Lake Victoria by local and foreign investors, there was no substantial business to handle.
Another statement on water weed on Lake Kyoga by the Water minister capped what has for all intents and purposes been an unceremonious week at Parliament.

Voiced frustrations
Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga and her deputy Oulanyah have already voiced frustrations about the dilly-dallying by government to generate enough business to keep the 10th Parliament in busy session.
In September, Ms Kadaga was forced to send the House on recess because government, the principal producer of work, had failed to generate and table business for Parliament to work on.
Ms Kadaga had vowed to name and shame ministers who dodge Parliament proceedings and leave MPs with an empty front bench to respond to inquiries, but she has since adopted a soft stance.
A report that was compiled by the Clerk to Parliament detailing attendance of ministers was submitted to the Speaker, but Ms Kadaga on Tuesday informed the House that she will determine what action to take with the report.
Under rule 24(1) the Speaker is obliged to give priority to government business with private members’ business given the first two hours of a sitting on every Thursday. The government can generate business by tabling Bills, motions and resolutions. But government has been largely sleeping on the job.
Shadow Attorney General Wilfred Niwagaba (Ndorwa West), who has been acting Leader of Opposition, this week, on Wednesday asked the Prime Minister, also Leader of Government Business, why he has been offending Rule 27 which touches on the matter of House business.
Rule 27 (Statement of Business by Leader of Government Business) states that for every last sitting day of the week [Thursday], the Leader of Government Business shall make a statement in the House regarding the government business of the succeeding week.
Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda has not presented any such statement in the 10th Parliament, leaving the Speaker and MPs second-guessing what business will be up for debate in the coming week.
The Prime Minister in response said government would propose amendments on Rule 27 to allow more legroom in the tabling of government business.
This rule was premised on the grounds that with MPs informed a week in advance of the pending business, they would have time to research and prepare before debate.
The Clerk to Parliament has also not been respectful of Rule 28 which provides that a weekly order paper, including relevant documents, shall be made and distributed to every member through his or her pigeon hole and where possible, electronically.
Sub section(2) indicates that where the relevant documents referred to in sub-rule (1) originate from a government department, sector or agency, the responsible minister shall avail to the clerk sufficient copies of the documents for distribution to members.
If these two rules were respected, it could also enrich the quality of debate in the House which Deputy Speaker Oulanyah is on record saying in the previous Parliament that the debate was so poor that he no longer bothered to read the Hansard, Parliament’s official record.
“You look at the quality of debate; look at the level of research. Someone just comes into the chambers and starts debating. I used to read the Hansard but I have stopped reading it. We miss the big picture in our debates,” Mr Oulanyah said in the 9th Parliament.
But as things stand, Kadaga and Oulanyah will have to adopt some radical measures to ensure that government and ministers give Parliament business the urgency and priority it deserves. The Speaker can start with naming and shaming absentee ministers.

Bribery claims
And as House authorities grapple with the issue of failure by government to generate business, Aringa South MP Alioni Odria added another spot of bother by dragging the image of Parliament into disrepute.
MP Odria is battling accusations that he tried to solicit a bribe from an accounting officer in return for protection during an appearance in the dreaded Public Accounts Committee.
In an emotive personal statement, Mr Odria denied ever soliciting a bribe, firing back that the accusations were intended to scare him off his ruthlessly approach in dealing with accounting officers with unreliable accountability.
Odria demanded an inquiry into the accusations to clear his name, a demand that the Speaker promised to rule on.
Accusations of MPs lining their pockets just can’t go away. Before the accusation against Odria came to light, Kilak North MP Anthony Akol had lifted the lid over underhand dealings where he claimed that MPs had been bribed with sugar and money to support the controversial motion by the Nakifuma County MP Robert Ssekitoleko seeking leave to prepare a Constitutional Amendments Bill.
It’s about time Ms Kadaga reined in on such tendencies before it’s too late.