Divisions, unfinished Bills await 10th Parliament

Kampala- To President Museveni, the task for the 10th Parliament is to make sure that Uganda attains a middle income status by 2020. And to political analysts, senior citizens and civil society, more than anything else, the focus must be put on electoral reforms.
The just-sworn in legislators, however, acknowledged that there was a fundamental division among them particularly regarding the priorities, challenges ahead and how to proceed. While some MPs said it was urgent to focus first on economic issues, others see the deficit in governance as a major impediment to prosperity and insist that unless corruption is tackled head on, the President’s idea will remain “a pipe dream”.

However, for some people such as former Supreme Court judge, Prof George W Kanyeihamba, it’s a waste of time for Ugandans to peg their hope on the new Parliament.

“I praised the 9th Parliament, but how have they performed? People are there for positions and money,” Prof Kanyeihamba said. “Their mandate is spelt out in Article 79 of the Constitution but with a Speaker of Parliament nominated by a party, do you think they can do anything? They will just do anything the President wants. This does not augur well for democracy.”

On whether he is not unfair to conclude that the “honourables” are chasing money and positions, Prof Kanyeihamba changed his tone a bit and explained why he stood by his remarks: “Since 1996, they have invited me to address the new parliamentarians. That’s my opinion and if you think I am unfair, let’s wait for the next five years and see whether they can achieve anything significant. I am very pessimistic, I don’t expect anything from the 10th Parliament and I will be surprised if they achieved anything.”
Asked what he would tell the new MPs if given a chance to address the 10th Parliament, Prof Kanyeihamba said, “Our country has continued year by year to go down as far as good governance and democracy is concerned and what we see today is total abyss of chaos.

The challenge for 10th Parliament is how do we reverse the system so that our country is governed in accordance with the Constitution. Without this, we will have arbitrary actions, dictatorship and corrupt decisions affecting our lives. That’s the challenge for 10th Parliament.”

Dr Livingstone Ssewanyana, the executive director, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Ms Cecilia Ogwal, the outgoing Opposition chip and Ms Patricia Munabi-Babiiha, the executive director of Forum for Women and Democracy (FOWADE), the major task of the 10th Parliament is to ensure that meaningful electoral reforms as contained in the Citizens Compact on free and fair electoral reforms are passed to address the current governance challenges.

According to Ms Ogwal, for the last five years, the Opposition and the Speaker of the 9th Parliament, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, have been asking for electoral reforms and insisted that even with the few constitutional amendments passed by Parliament ahead of the February elections, “the issue of constitutional amendments is unfinished business.”

“We must address the issue of electoral reforms before it’s too late,” Ms Ogwal said, adding that “These must come as a matter of urgency and we must start now in order to give Parliament time to consult Ugandans and also give constituents time to discuss constitutional amendments.”

Ms Ogwal also pointed out the need to conclude the proposed Anti-Homosexuality law and the Marriage and Divorce Bill. However, for the latter, she proposed repackaging, focusing on the children rights in a marriage, noting that the original draft of the bill had gaps that provoked the Opposition to the Marriage and Divorce Bill.

Ms Ogwal, one of the senior legislators in the House, insisted that without pulling significant resources to the agriculture sector, the country’s backbone, the President’s promise of transforming Ugandan from a least developed nation to a middle income country by either 2019 or 2020 will be “a theoretical chat” that does not carry any meaning to millions of Ugandans who are struggling to put food on their table.

On corruption, like Prof Kanyeihamba, Ms Ogwal expressed doubt on whether a pack of politicians who accepted to pick Shs5million from the President before they are even sworn-in would be the right people to fight corruption, an insidious problem in public and private offices.

Other legislators who talked to Daily Monitor yesterday, however, pointed out the need to debate Auditor General’s reports and proposed that competent MPs should chair accountability committees like Public Accounts Committee (Pac), Commissions Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) and Local Government Accounts Committee and the Government Assurances Committee.

Mr Abas Agaba Mugisha, a former RDC and now a Member of the 10th Parliament representing Kitagwenda County, the focus should be put on boosting household incomes through wealth creation, increasing the agriculture budget, and giving the right skills to the jobless youth to combat poverty and unemployment in the country by supporting creativity around academics.

“Being a new Parliament, we are going to have challenges but we must adjust quickly and embark on the big task ahead- taking Uganda to modernity,” Mr Agaba said. “Ugandans want services and as leaders at national level, this is our time.”

He added: “Our success will be measured by how many Bills passed, how many jobs created as a result of the laws we passed and how many convictions made in the fight against corruption, reforms in critical sectors like health and education, among others.”

But as the new Parliament settles to start work, some legislators led by Mr Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda (Kira Municipality), noted the challenge of space and numbers and sympathised with the Speaker, who might struggle to structure the debate and balance competing interests.

“If swearing in has taken three days, it means there are MPs who will leave Parliament without saying a word. This is bonna basome era. Unfortunately, even Parliament has not been spared. We are going to have challenges because Parliament has been turned into bonna bateese club.”