Blame failure of Cabinet on a limping Parliament

It has been an embarrassing week for Cabinet. First, ministers continue to dodge House proceedings with impunity. Even those who occasionally show up don’t know the Parliamentary Rules of Procedures. Others can’t even confidently defend their respective dockets.

It’s a scandal that even the senior ministers continue to exhibit highest levels of fraudulence. The Speaker has talked and talked but they are adamant. They are poor time keepers and some are voting machines —they only show up whenever there is a contentious matter that requires voting.

Secondly, some Cabinet ministers have been named in dubious money deals where taxpayers have lost billions of shillings. From the infamous coffee scandal to banana dealings. From market deals to now the National Social Security saga.

Unfortunately, the growing incidences of indiscipline in Cabinet have become a matter of prime concern for Ugandans but not for the Leader of Government Business. This is why ministers dodge Parliament with impunity; are implicated in serious scandals and nothing happens.

Last week, Parliament adopted two reports pinning former senior ministers for mismanaging a multibillion fund mooted to help small businesses and called for punitive action against the culprits, including President Museveni’s brother, Gen Salim Saleh.

Former Vice President Specioza Wandira Kazibwe, former Finance ministers Gerald Ssendaula, Syda Bbumba and now Maria Kiwanuka were also named by MPs in various scandals. This week, another damning report is going to be adopted, pinning ministers in NSSF deals.

The bad apples
The Ninth Parliament started off well. They rode the tiger and pushed out some ministers. This momentum, however, did not last. They have since flinched in total humiliation. But in a limping Parliament, it does not really matter whether public money is paid back or not, what matters is to be seen doing something about Cabinet indiscretions. This is killing service delivery in the country.

Awkwardly, most of our national values are derailing because of the growing political indiscipline. Unless the Leader of Government Business (LGB) gets tough on the bad apples in the basket, the indiscipline of the political class will continue to negatively impact on the service delivery.

During Cabinet retreats, key stakeholders within the Executive meet twice a year to review government’s overall performance with specific focus on sectorial successes and challenges. In addition, forecasting of achievable development targets and operational goals is done. They tend to focus on the agreed set plans in the Budget and forget that without tackling indiscipline, they continue to wink in the dark.

Regrettably, last week’s Cabinet retreat focused on the government half annual performance and the Appointments Committee ignored said the basics- the growing indiscipline among ministers. There is no justification for a closed-door vetting of the ministers. This mistake must be corrected before it’s too late. A transparent vetting process is a magic potion for the sloppiness we see in Cabinet.

Violating rules
Rule 103 says for any ministry, the minister or at least the minister of State shall attend sittings of the House; and where none of them is able to attend, a minister shall request another minister to represent that ministry’s interests in the House and notify the Speaker accordingly. The same rule places responsibility on the LGB to ensure that ministers attend the proceedings of the House.

It’s also a scandal that Rule 27 of the House Rules of Procedure remains on paper yet, we have the Leader of Government Business. Although in absence of the Prime Minister, Rule 34(3) allows any minister to answer questions from members during the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions, Parliament has on a number of occasions missed the session over the PM’s absence. Rule 35(1) also mandates ministers to attend sittings of the House to answer questions but they don’t care.

Ministers give policy direction and political oversight. But some have interfered in the procurement processes to the extent of awarding contracts. The lack of performance appraisal for ministers has made matter worse. But the ministers, like the technical people, must be assessed on annual basis. The performance-based assessment approach will help to bring back sanity to Cabinet before it’s too late.

Fatefully, the Opposition is struggling to mount a serious challenge. They are financially weak and disorganised. And collective responsibility in the face of NRM majority has made matters worse.

There is certainly not a monolithic Opposition in the form of a well-organised party. There is no strong and functional coalition of political parties that could effectively challenge both the power and ideology of the ruling party.

They are incoherent and unable to have a common position on any matter on the floor of Parliament. Some Opposition legislators have given up and deliberately stayed away from the debates particularly where Ugandans expect them to stand up and be counted. Others come to Parliament and quietly monitor the proceedings. It’s not even unusual for Parliament to pass reports without debate and in the presence of the Opposition.

Opposition games
Without a formidable Opposition, ministers, including those implicated in serious scandals, have always emerged triumphant. Lest the games Opposition parties in Parliament play, it will certainly be grim to form a serious popular mass based political or social movement and it will even be exceptionally difficult to fully characterise or quantify the Opposition.

The tragedy is that these incidents have not just disturbed Ugandans, but the apparent lack of action by the MPs indicates the changing political equation and the weakening position of Parliament. The President and the flustering ministers became complacent after studying how Parliament does not work.

They have cautiously studied them and understand how they do not work. My interaction with ministers over the years on these matters suggests a rather unflattering view. They consider MPs to be indecisive and unable to stop anything.

Their view is that the broke MPs and the appetite for cash have made Parliament shiftless and inconsequential. They cast a magical spell on MPs so that they forget the lofty promises they make to the public during elections.