The overhyped regional parliamentary sittings organized by the Parliament of Uganda are another waste of taxpayers’ money in the guise of addressing people’s issues. What challenges will the regional sittings address?
The challenges the country is facing are not due to a lack of regional sittings. The Parliament has sat in Kampala for decades, but Kampala remains the most disorganized city, with potholed roads and heaps of garbage killing citizens.
Like the usual benchmarking trips abroad that turn into merry-making festivities without any substance, the regional parliamentary sittings are just extravagant feel-good parties for these MPs and their girlfriends or boyfriends as they waste taxpayers’ money—a Marie Antoinette financial virus consuming taxpayers’ money.
As the common Ugandan lacks medicine in hospitals and poor state of schools in rural areas, the Parliament is always busy splashing the taxpayers’ sweat on alcohol and parties with reckless abandon, and their representatives cannot ask.
The same mute parliamentarians will just come back during the electioneering period to distribute sweets, plastic cups, and plates, as well as buy local brew for their voters to solicit for votes.
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There is absolutely no challenge the regional sittings will address. What hurts most is that even the opposition that dodges these sittings does not do it in good faith; they just do it to play to the gallery for political purposes because they have severally participated in stealing taxpayers’ money too. The parliament has been rendered useless, and the majority of Ugandans think they can actually live without the current August House.
The 11th Parliament has come out to defend and normalize corruption, with legislators declaring publicly that it is ok to steal as long as the thief eats with his people. It is hypocritical for both the speaker and her MPs to hoodwink Ugandans and parade themselves as pro-people, yet they are actually in the parliament to enrich themselves, and Ugandans are on their own.
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Pretending to be taking the parliament to the people is a sign that parliament has actually failed on its duties because the regions they are visiting are already represented by MPs who should be able to table the challenges affecting their electorates, but they have all failed.
Whereas it is a constitutional mandate of the speaker to sanction these regional sittings, it is close to impossible for Ugandans to expect anything good in them. The 11th parliament has lost trust, and the damage caused by the corruption and extravagance has caused irreparable damage to the extent that Ugandans do not expect anything good to come from that house.
The 11th parliament headed by Speaker Annet Anita Among should revisit their actions and be pro-people to mend their broken relationship with Ugandans. The rest is sheer pretense and negligence that cannot heal the wounded hearts of Ugandans.
