MPs to be sensitised on parish model
MPs during a plenary session chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Ms Anita Among, yesterday. PHOTO / DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The ruling came after the Minister for Local Government, Mr Rapheal Magyezi, tabled the guidelines on the floor of Parliament and pledged to present the policy next Thursday.
The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ms Anita Among, has dedicated next Friday to have legislators sensitised about the parish development model (PDM) to enable them perform their oversight role.
“People need full information on parish model, go through these documents and then debate, and ask questions because these are going to be the ambassadors in the constituencies,” Ms Among told MPs during plenary yesterday.
She added: “After getting information on what role we have, we will break off to monitor the programme. But you cannot go on [the] ground when you do not know how it is being done.”
Ms Among said they will scrutinise the guidelines, and give their input to further streamline how the project must be run.
The ruling came after the Minister for Local Government, Mr Rapheal Magyezi, tabled the guidelines on the floor of Parliament and pledged to present the policy next Thursday.
On Tuesday, Parliament directed the minister to present to Parliament all the paperwork, including the policy and guidelines on the implementation of the model after complaints by some MPs that the programme did not have the necessary legal paperwork.
Ms Among said involving Parliament in the planning and oversight will be crucial to avert scandals like those witnessed in previous poverty alleviation programmes.
She demanded that MPs be given responsibility to coordinate the implementation in their constituencies.
“Other people were having a meeting as coordinators in my district. Why can’t I be a coordinator when I am a woman MP? How do you bring people who do not even speak my language to be coordinators? I would also need to feel that I am part of the system. Let us have the MPs coordinate it,” the Deputy Speaker said.
Mr Solomon Silwany (Bukooli Central) had said the process to contract Post Bank to manage the disbursement of funds to the parishes did not meet procurement standards.
Mr Eddie Kwizera (Bukimbiri County) expressed skepticism on proper management and accountability if the programme is rolled out without a policy.
“PDM is still a presidential proclamation; it’s not by policy or law. It does not describe the role of Parliament and who does what. Wouldn’t it be procedurally right for the government to come out with a statement in policy or legislation so that we know who does what?” Mr Kwizera asked.
The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Mathias Mpuuga, termed its implementation without the necessary paper worker as “impulsive”.
“It is very dangerous and difficult to deal with a proclamation that has no legal framework to house it or even a policy. The guidelines are all over the place. They were neither scrutinised by Parliament nor gazetted. Anything not gazetted can be denied. What stops somebody to sit and add another page on the guidelines? ” he said.
According to Mr Mpuuga, it is illogical to give the same amount of funds to every parish in disregard of the population sizes in the parishes.
DON'T MISS: Museveni speaks out on PDM
Mr Magyezi also told legislators that there will be no middlemen in the disbursement of the funds to reduce chances of corruption.
“In order to improve efficiency, reduce risk of corruption through government systems and streamline management of the parish revolving fund, upon verification of enterprise group projects by the chief administrative officers and other government machinery, the Ministry of Finance will approve funds release, where the funds will then move from the Bank of Uganda to the bank accounts of each of the parish model Saccos,” he said.
President Museveni launched the programme on February 26 in Kibuku District, where it is being piloted before countrywide rollout.
The programme aims to lift 3.5 million households out of subsistence production to the money economy. Each parish is expected to receive Shs17 million this financial year, an amount that will leap to Shs100 million in the next financial year.
