Prime
Parliament resumes today as MPs conclude parish model tours
State Minister for Trade Industry and Cooperatives David Bahati (right) hands over motorcycles to sub-county chairpersons from Kigezi to be used in monitoring PDM in Kabale Town on July 2, 2022. PHOTO/ROBERT MUHEREZA
What you need to know:
- Speaker Anita Among had tasked the lawmakers to sensitise their constituents about the government programme.
Members of Parliament (MPs) have in the last two weeks been in their constituencies sensitising Ugandans about the parish development model (PDM), a programme that government is banking on to reduce poverty levels in the country.
This followed a previous communication from Ms Anita Among, the Speaker of Parliament, for the lawmakers to utilise the time off to sensitise their constituents about PDM and give informed reports on the floor of the House when business resumes today.
In this regard, Monitor yesterday sounded out a section of the legislators to share their insights about PDM.
While some highlighted that PDM has been an enlightening experience in terms of sharing knowledge, others stated that more time is still needed to interact with the masses about the programme.
Mr Tom Julius Ekudo (Gweri County) said many people still seem clueless about PDM.
“People still don’t understand what PDM is all about and for this reason, more sensitisation is needed,” Mr Ekudo said.
“And some are still hesitant to receive the money meant for the implementation exercise out of fear that it is a loan and that they will be expected to repay it back someday, which is not true,” he added.
For Ms Sharon Laker Balmoyi (Gulu Woman), the biggest challenge she faced on ground was the high expectations from some people.
“There were occasions we would mobilise community members to come and attend meetings on PDM but some would not turn up simply because we were not giving them transport refund,” Ms Balmoyi said.
Ms Betty Aol Ocan (Gulu City Woman) added that there are even those who attended the meetings and afterwards, asked for money to cater for their different needs back home.
“The expectations of us (legislators) are very high at this point in time [when the country is grappling with high commodity prices],” Ms Ocan said.
On his part, Mr Albert Lokoru (Tepeth County) said members of his constituency, “overwhelmingly welcomed the initiative.”
Speaker Among has asked all House committees to work to the maximum given the business at hand in the second session of the 11th Parliament.
High on the agenda as the House resumes business is the processing of the 62 Bills that President Museveni mentioned last month during the State of the Nation Address.
Among these include The Employment (Amendment) Bill, Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, National Information Technology (Amendment) Bill, Land Acquisition Bill, 2022 as well as the Land Act (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
