Defeated MPs warned against stalking Museveni for favours

Members of Parliament (MPs) who were defeated in the January 14 polls should not hound President Museveni for favours, a former minister has said.

Ms Victoria Sekitoleko, a former Agriculture minister, told the outgoing MPs during a seminar on post-Parliament life last Friday never to ambush the President with demands.

“Please, when you want to remain friends with him, don’t be part of that group of people who waylay him (the President) at every opportunity, asking for this and the other. He may be generous, but he also has limits,” she told the MPs.

The former minister added: “When you go out there and choose whatever you are going to do, if you do it very well, he will know about it. Very few things happen in Uganda without his knowledge. So, if you want to be noticed, be known by your works.”

Coping with life
The former minister’s remarks coincide with fears that some of the lawmakers, trounced in the January elections, have expressed concern about coping with life without the trappings and perks of the House.
While giving her concluding remarks at the Friday event, Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga warned the exiting MPs, who number several dozens, against stalking the President for gifts, jobs or other favours.

Advice
“You know how sometimes you find former leaders at a public rally being pushed around and they are also pushing themselves so that they can be seen by the President! It is not very good,” Ms Kadaga said.

She added: “He (Mr Museveni) would instead like to hear that there was an entrepreneur who was a former leader in a particular place; that way, he will find a reason to come and visit you rather that you going to chase after him.”

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