MPs receive riot act on dress, eating habits
Some of the MPs of the 10th Parliament listen to proceedings during an orientation meeting in Kampala yesterday. However, many of them stayed away from the orientation. PHOTO BY ALEX ESAGALA.
Kampala- Yesterday was a fashion tips day at Parliament for the new MPs.
From how they should walk, how they should sit, eat, dance, how heavy they should fill their plates at a buffet line to how long they should stay at parties.
“Don’t wear bras that pump-up your boobs. Don’t wear skirts that reveal the “subject matter”. Don’t wear back shows. Don’t wear tight trousers. Please always use a deodorant,” MPs Abdu Katuntu, Jacob Oboth Oboth and Jalia Bintu warned the freshers.
The three were selected for their seniority and membership on last Parliament’s rules committee, to take the new legislators through matters of house decorum.
“You have to overhaul your wardrobe if you have not done that already,” Mr Oboth Oboth said, adding: “You may want to put on a yellow shirt, yellow trouser and yellow everything but if someone comes in the house looking for a musician, you may fall victim.”
In the audience was Arua Municipality MP Ibrahim Abiriga dressed in what looked like a yellow linen Kaunda suit with a yellow T-shirt inside. At his swearing in, he showed up all dressed in yellow with a cap reading, NRM is my party.
Singling out one MP who had buttoned up his jacket while sitting, Mr Abdu Katuntu said: “I can tell you are feeling uncomfortable,” he said.
Dressing well, Mr Katuntu said, is law and anything short of that doesn not only embarrass the MP but ashames the constituency and the institution of Parliament,.
However, it was MP Jalia Bintu’s frank talk that left the House in fits of laughter.
“Please the men. Those tight trousers inconvenience the opposite sex. Imagine looking at someone in a tight trouser whose AK (47) is charged,” she said amid laughters.
Speaker Rebecca Kadaga warned against absenteeism singling out former MP Nsubuga Kipoi, who was jettisoned from Parliament for absenteeism.
“He asked for leave of three weeks but instead went to DR Congo and was arrested trading in arms and cocaine,” she said.
