Parliament moves to repair bruised image

Despite being occupied by a garrison that has shielded the House from youthful protestors enraged by perceived corrupt tendencies, or in fact because of it, this past week has witnessed an explosion of emotions on the floor of Parliament. 

After returning from a month-long recess, Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa chaired Tuesday’s plenary session in the conspicuous absence of his boss, Anita Among. 

While ‘Anita must resign’ chants were not loud enough to be heard in the precincts of Parliament, Mr John Musila (Bubulo East) still deemed it wise that the lawmakers be sent back for another recess “for our own safety”. He got his wish when Mr Adolf Mwesige, the clerk to Parliament, on Wednesday called off plenary until July 30. 

Before that, Mr Alioni Odria (Aringa South), Mr Jonathan Odur (Erute South) and Mr Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala) had joined Mr Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP), in calling for an introspection about the goings-on at the House during Tuesday’s plenary.

As the lawmakers mull over protests from the country’s youth that are calling into question the collective integrity of the House and its size for good measure, Deputy Speaker Tayebwa has issued 10 decrees in a bid to help salvage the situation.

The decrees were issued to all committee chairpersons and their deputies on Thursday. It is hoped that the face-saving commands will determine the modus operandi of the work of the lawmakers in the next 12 months. 

“We must come up and address the issue of integrity that has been mostly blown out of proportion,” Mr Tayebwa said as he delivered the closing remarks during the orientation session of committee chairpersons organised by Parliament on Thursday.

He added: “We don’t control more than one percent of the budget, but all the failures and sins of Parliament are sins of the whole country. But I think we are not doing our role of coming out to defend ourselves the way we should.”

Speaking to a keenly attentive audience comprising lawmakers and technical staff at the House, mostly committee clerks, Mr Tayebwa listed the 10 commands that will not be negotiable. The Deputy Speaker wants committee leaders to: stick to House rules; craft a solid and loyal team at committee level; practice transparency; widely read around matters they inquire into; and demand for action-taken reports from the government on all recommendations made in the debated reports. 

Committee leaders will also report to police all persons who entice them into corruption; enforce strict attendance of members in committee sittings; avoid being facilitated by entities they are meant to hold accountable; never to be intimated as they discharge their duties; and always write quality reports after probe sessions.

Mr Tayebwa consequently instructed the committee leaders to “start by showing the committee budget to all [their committee members]” as a means of being transparent from the outset. He further instructed that committee work immediately starts since “plenary is 10 percent of what we [lawmakers] do.” He added that plenary usually goes hand in glove with what emerges from committees. 

“You have a lot of responsibility and that means that you don’t have a lot of time to celebrate what has been assigned to you [chairpersons]. It is time to know that the eyes on you are now going to be wider,” Mr Tayebwa told the committee leaders. 

The Deputy Speaker also urged MPs to appropriately utilise their oversight powers “to ensure that corruption is fought in this country.” 

As he delivered his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on June 6, President Museveni said he had proof that some lawmakers and technical staff at the Ministry of Finance connived to alter budget allocations in return for kickbacks from government entities.

Consequently, the police quizzed and later jailed three lawmakers—Yusuf Mutembuli (Bunyole East), Paul Akamba (Busiki County) and Cissy Namujju (Lwengo District Woman) for allegedly soliciting a 20 percent kickback from the Uganda Human Rights Commission in order to enhance its 2024/2025 budget allocations.

The House Speaker has also been sanctioned by both the US and UK after iron sheets meant for the vulnerable poor in Karamoja Sub-region were diverted. Ms Among insists that she is innocent. She, however, along with Mr Tayebwa, got a bad rap when it came to light that a princely sum had been used to secure generators for their home use.