No allowances for legislators who dodge sessions - Kadaga
A handful of legislators during a session at Parliament recently. Monitor photo
What you need to know:
Ms Kadaga says a number of MPs sign the attendance register even when they dodge plenary sessions as a way of making some quick cash
PARLIAMENT
The integrity of Parliament is under fresh scrutiny as Speaker Rebecca Kadaga yesterday revealed that some MPs are continuing not to attend sessions but while back-signing attendance registers.
At the closure of Wednesday plenary session, Ms Kadaga revealed a litany of tricks used by MPs to make a quick buck ranging from signing the attendance register even when they dodge plenary sessions, backdating their signatures to days when they were not at Parliament to switching flights from parliamentary travels and returning home despite pocketing hefty allowances.
In an interview with Daily Monitor yesterday, Ms Kadaga reiterated her assertions, further warning that MPs caught in the act will have their allowances for plenary sessions deducted. MPs’ allowances for plenary sessions are consolidated with their monthly salary.
Furious at the deceitfulness of legislators, Speaker Kadaga told MPs that House authorities have instituted a new requirement where MPs will only sign for the plenary session for the opening one hour pending the installment of an electronic device where MPs can check in and out of the chambers. The new rules have, however, been greeted with scepticism with some MPs complaining that the regulations amount to “micro-management”, and that House authorities should rather address the causes of absenteeism.
House rules stipulate that the afternoon plenary session kicks off at 2pm.
“There are people (MPs) who sign and do not enter the chamber. They come and sign and go away without entering the plenary. That (removing the register) is intended to show us who has come in time and who is in that plenary because there are people who do not enter the plenary but you find them in the register,” Ms Kadaga said.
“I have been told there are people who check the back pages and squeeze in their names. If I remove the register [and] draw a line, it means no one can register.”
On attendance of parliamentary visits - both inland and abroad - Ms Kadaga revealed that MPs cut short such trips even after taking allowances of Shs150,000 [domestic trips] and $520 (Shs1.3 million) for foreign travel per day.
“There are some MPs that get on the Parliament buses and they alight along the way, never reaching the destination. I have reports of MPs that go for workshops abroad and switch flights and come back the next day without attending,” the Speaker told MPs.
