The truth about the alleged rejection of MPs’ salary raise

The Daily Monitor of Friday October 28 carried a story in which it claimed that President Yoweri Museveni, in returning the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill 2022 for reconsideration, rejected a proposed salary raise for MPs. This, like many such stories before it, confirms a consistent and persistent pattern of deliberate distortion of facts to scandalise MPs and Parliament.

Before I delve into the story, it has to be known that Parliament, on its own, cannot increase MPs’ salary.
This is simply because the Constitution under article 93 reserves to the executive powers to introduce motions and or Bills which place a charge on the Consolidated Fund.

For avoidance of doubt, Article 93 reads in part: “Parliament shall not, unless the Bill is introduced on behalf of the Government...proceed upon a Bill including an amendment Bill that makes provision for any of the following....the imposition of a charge on the Consolidated Fund or other public fund of Uganda...”
Incidentally, the Bill in issue is a Private Member’s Bill brought by the Hon Arinaitwe Rwakajara (NRM, Workers).

With such a provision in place, it has to come out clearly that all stories on MPs unilaterally increasing their pay are without basis, calculated to malice MPs and Parliament generally.  Having read through the entire Bill, I found no provision on increment of MPs’ salary, neither was such an issue canvassed by the President in his letter to the Speaker calling for reconsideration of some clauses of the Bill. In any case, any such increment, if at all it were to be considered, cannot be housed in a legislation other than the Appropriation Act. This, then, begs the question: how did that even find its way into the story?

During the debate on the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs’ report on the Bill, a general discussion ensued on the contribution of MPs to the Parliamentary Pension Scheme (PPS), sourced from their salary which has, for over 15 years, never been increased. The discussion ultimately ended there because it was just a comment by the Committee which had absolutely no bearing on the discussions then.

How the writer conveniently picked that up to try and force a story out of it remains a puzzle. Like any other contributory retirement benefits scheme, MPs increased their contribution to the PPS from 15 to 20 per cent, which the President has, in line with article 91, brought back for scrutiny.

This has always been a pivotal and healthy interaction between the head of the Executive and Parliament, in keeping with the open and dynamic dispensation of legislation as envisaged in the Constitution.

A journalist interested in the truth and facts, as opposed to feeding narratives, would have scrutinised the Committee report, and most importantly, the Bill itself as passed by Parliament, before proceeding to author a story that has the effect of making Parliament misunderstood and cast in bad light over a completely non-existent question.

In keeping with tenets of openness and transparency, Parliament religiously and promptly makes available to journalists and the public, all information relating to businesses being transacted by the people’s representatives, so that if a difference of perspective or opinion on the decisions made by MPs is to arise, it is premised on facts in a manner that allows for exchange of knowledge and strengthening of the democratic space.

Stories of the impugned kind only serve to poison the wells of informed discourse which is otherwise critical to nation building and growing our democracy.

It’s in our place to criticise the actions and inactions of Parliament, and journalism is supposed to ensure that happens under the banner of sobriety and deeply informed, factual engagements.  I, therefore, ask our colleagues in the media to keep true to their profession and go where the facts lead them, not to arm-twist the facts to where bias leads them.

Mr Chris Obore is the Director Communication and Public Affairs, Parliament of Uganda

*EDITOR’S NOTE: The use of the word “salary” on an inner-page headline, and in the main story as opposed to “pay” used on the main headline, may have created confusion among some readers and is regretted. On September 7, 2022, lawmakers passed the Parliamentary Pensions (Amendment) Bill, 2022, with recommendation to raise their pension contribution from 15 to 20 percent. If implemented, under the applicable law, the government’s corresponding contribution would automatically rise from 30 to 40 percent, which would be charged on the Consolidated Fund and translate into additional income to MPs. This fact has not been challenged.