Are they really MPs or mere jokers?

Did you know that one of the most prestigious jobs in Uganda’s crowded job market is being a Member of Parliament? Not only do you earn tons of money as a salary package but according to our MPs’conduct, it seems you don’t actually have to work to be entitled to a huge salary. It could be termed as “the job made in heaven!” You do close to nothing yet you still get a huge pay cheque that’s even complimented with perks like petrol allowance! Being a parliamentarian in Uganda seems to characterise all the above job highlights. Take for instance Florence Kabakweza Hashaka, Kamwenge District Woman MP. Out of the 102 parliamentary committee meetings, she attended14. It gets worse; out of the 96 parliamentary sittings, she managed to honour only 20 of them!

Now to grasp the scope of Hashaka’s abuse of office, you have to look at the figures. An MP on average earns Shs16.5m a month in salary and allowances. That’s close to Shs200m a year. Hashaka earned that in 2009 by appearing for a month and four days in Parliament! She’s not the only breed of her kind though in our Parliament. They’re a number. According to the African Leadership Institute Report, last year, our MPs attended 32 out of 96 plenary sittings. Afande Tinyefuza and some others never attended any plenary meeting!

The report was henpecked by the legislators who looked for any excuse to rubbish it. Some moaned about its methodology, others questioned its partiality. Few welcomed its findings. But let’s see whether our MPs are worth any salt. The measurement of success for an MP in my opinion can be viewed through two lenses; one’s level of participation in the house concerning pressing issues of his constituency and the country at large and their effectiveness at the grassroots level in their respective constituencies.

However, when Jerome Kaddumukasa Ssozi, MP for Mityana South attends only 20 parliamentary sittings out of 96 and yet his constituents are not exactly poverty-free courtesy of his “hard work” in the constituency, then the effectiveness of an MP gets hazy. How many of you know of MPs that have changed their constituents’ levels of poverty, health care or even security because of their effectiveness? How many even know their MPs?

These people to many of us come across as guys on an endless gravy train. Occasionally you will hear their voices in Parliament but for many its silence. But despite all that, they keep signing for sitting allowance! Yes the report has its flaws but public perception has always been what the report captured. These people do nada! To us, they lost the morality of questioning government corruption because they too don’t pass the litmus test themselves.

So what exactly do they do when not in Parliament? I really don’t know. However our friend, MP Florence Hashaka could have a clue for us; the media reported last Monday that Hashaka and two other MPs had been dragged to court for non-payment of debts! Blimey!

rkalumba@monitor.co.ug