Empty House fails voters as MPs ‘hide in toilets’

On Thursday Parliament failed to transact business because of lack of quorum. The embarrassment of the empty seats left the Deputy Speaker, Mr Jacob Oulanyah, dumbfounded. Mr Oulanyah, who chaired the session, would later suspend the proceedings of the House for five minutes to allow members come to the chamber.
He even asked the clerk to ring the bell for several minutes but still members did not show up. Realising that he was “whipping a dead horse”, Mr Oulanyah had no choice but to suspend the proceedings on the Anti-Corruption Amendments Bill, 2013, and adjourned the House to Tuesday.

The whole of last week, a Parliament of 386 members failed to raise the required quorum (125 members) to conduct business on matters of national significance. Even the Public Private Partnership Bill was passed amid complaints that there was no quorum even as Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, who threatened to publish the names of the absentee MPs, clarified that the House was “fully constituted.”

Wasted roll calls
Each time the Speaker conducts the roll call, the numbers do not add up. And it’s a scandal that the same Parliament that overwhelmingly passed a record Budget of Shs24 trillion in May could turn around and frustrate the passing of the proposed Anti-Corruption Amendment Bill, 2013. This Bill is significant. It seeks to safeguard public funds from abuse and ensure accountability by providing for the confiscation of property of persons convicted of graft. However, even the few clauses (about seven) they handled on Thursday, were essentially passed without the necessary quorum.

After a question was put for the House to adopt the amendments to the Bill, Ms Cecilia Ogwal (Dokolo Woman) stood a procedural matter and reminded the chairperson that he forgot to add that the few clauses were actually passed without quorum. She informed Mr Oulanyah that if he insisted that the seven clauses must be passed, the House must qualify it by adding ‘without quorum.’ Mr Oulanyah did not say a word on this.

What’s the problem?
Most of the MPs are said to be skipping Parliament because they are under pressure to prepare for re-election. The party primaries are coming up soon and the general election is slated for early next year.
The House Business Committee last week said by the end of September, MPs must have debated and passed 12 Bills. So far, it has passed the Public Private Partnership Bill, 2014. They are also expected to consider six accountability reports, eight loan requests, four petitions, three select committee reports and two motions.

Some of the pending business in the House include the consideration of the proposed constitutional amendments and the electoral reforms. The reports of the accountability committees (Public Accounts and Local Government Accounts), Select Committees (Standard Gauge Railway deal, forests and grabbing of public school land). The Retirement Benefits Sector Liberalisation Bill, 2011, Lottery and Gaming Bill, 2013, and the Parliamentary Pension Amendment Bill, 2014, among other bills.

MPs hide in toilets
There was an interesting debate in the House last week. The proposed Parliamentary Pension Amendment Bill, 2014, exposed the dishonesty of our representatives as they sought to cushion themselves from higher interest rates and left the rest of Ugandans to suffer. They sought to amend the parent law, to enable them borrow from the Pension Fund. They said they were tired of being chased and harassed by money lenders yet others confessed on the floor of Parliament how their colleagues -- the honourable members “hide in toilets of Parliament” to elude the court bailiffs.

The Legal Committee chairperson, Mr Steven Tashobya, and Ms Rose Akol, the mover of the Bill, however, cautioned members that turning the Pension Fund into a financial institution will be illegal but they refused to listen. Ms Akol even reminded Mr Emmanuel Dombo (Bunyole East) and others that borrowing from the Pension Fund will contravene The Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (UBRA) Act, governing all the pension schemes in the country.

When Speaker Kadaga pushed MPs to explain why they were seeking for preferential treatment and whether they were doing this because they are MPs, Mr Geoffrey Ekanya reminded her that the 1995 Constitution allows MPs to determine their pay and Mr Dombo insisted that Parliament is mandated to make laws. When the members insisted on borrowing from the Pension Fund, Ms Kadaga asked: “If we have subjected others [Ugandans] to the other law [UBRA Act] why are we excluding ourselves, is it because we are MPs?”

Dr Medard Bitekyerezo (Mbarara Municipality) was forced to invoke “science” to explain why MPs must be allowed to borrow from the Pension Fund. Using the analogy of the human heart, Dr Bitekyerezo said, in its functions, the heart “serves itself first”. He said the heart first gives blood to itself before giving other parts of the body.

Harassed by banks
Ms Margret Kiboijana (Ibanda Woman) said, “It’s very frustrating and dehumanising that MPs are living in abject poverty.” She insisted that members be allowed to borrow from the Pension Fund.
She said: “Hiding in toilets of this Parliament can be frustrating,” adding that “colleagues fall sick and cannot even access money to seek treatment abroad, and some have died because they could not be rescued.”

However, Ms Akol advised members that if they want to run away from commercial banks where the rest of Ugandans borrow, they should amend the UBRA Act. Mr Tashobya also said instead of being selfish, they should ask the government to deal with the wider problem of interest rates in the country.
Citing conflict between the UBRA Act and members proposals, Speaker suspended the proceedings on the Bill and asked members to harmonise. This debate returns next week.