MPs blame State House for ‘unfulfilled pledges’

PARLIAMENT.

Members of Parliament have asked State House to admit its poor record of “empty promises” even as it emerged this week that the President was verifying a list detailing unfulfilled pledges estimated at Shs11.8 trillion.

The Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances released a report last year, containing “unfulfilled pledges” that President Museveni has made to Ugandans since 1986 when he took over power.

State House Comptroller Lucy Nakyobe, however, complained on Wednesday that they were never consulted by the committee before drafting the report.

“It’s not true that the President is not fulfilling his pledges,” Ms Nakyobe said. “As a matter of fact, though the resource envelope is limited, every year various government institutions fulfill these pledges.”

She added: “The analysis on the findings of the committee report was done and the President has been meeting MPs in zones to get the correct position. Each MP is normally asked to present what is outstanding in his or her constituency. The meetings are still ongoing and at the end of the process, we will come up with a report.”

Mr Odonga Otto (Aruu County) the former Government Assurances Committee chairperson, told members that although all pledges in his constituency were fulfilled, in Lira District, the President had in the 2011 election campaigns promised a bridge - Kaguta Bridge, which to-date had never been worked on.

Kalungu West MP Joseph Ssewungu observed that “unfulfilled presidential pledges had hampered service delivery in the country.”

“Our people are tired of these empty promises. It’s unfortunate that some of our people have even died in the process of waiting,” he said.
The MP accused the President of promising Ugandans “air” and alleged discrimination in the process of fulfilling these pledges. However, Ms Nakyobe refuted Mr Ssewungu’s views.

At the reading of last year’s State-of-the-Nation address in June, President Museveni quoted the book of Genesis in the Bible, reminding those blaming him for failing to deliver on his promises that “some things take a bit of time”.

He said even God took six days to create the world. “Of course, not all things I talked about last year have been fulfilled because many of them take time, and in any case the resources are limited,” the President said then.

The House report
According to the House committee report of which Daily Monitor broke the story on November 14, the President has not delivered on over 800 pledges ever since he took power. However, State House has called the committee narrative “mere politicking” and the handiwork of the opposition in Parliament.