Think beyond increasing your salaries, RDC tells MPs
Bushenyi RDC, Ms Jane Asiimwe Muhindo speaks during the Parliamentary Committee on equal opportunities sitting at Bushenyi District headquarters on Wednesday. Photo | Zadock Amanyisa
What you need to know:
- Ms Asiimwe made the remarks on Wednesday while giving closing remarks during the equal opportunities committee of Parliament sitting at Bushenyi District headquarters.
The Bushenyi Resident District Commissioner, Ms Jane Asiimwe Muhindo, has told Members of Parliament to pay attention to bigger issues affecting Ugandans instead of concentrating on their own salaries as much as they have the powers to make increments.
Ms Asiimwe made the remarks on Wednesday while giving closing remarks during the equal opportunities committee of Parliament sitting at Bushenyi District headquarters.
She identified the pressing issues in Bushenyi as; escalating prices of fish feed, lack of regulation on the tea sector, unfulfilled presidential pledges, and salary disparities for other government workers including district chairpersons.
She said fish feeds have become so expensive for farmers to manage yet government encourages them to go into fish farming. She asked legislators to push for the availability of affordable fish feeds for farmers in the country.
"In Uganda, we import fish feeds from the Netherlands. How can we go into fish farming yet we cannot afford to have our own fish feeds? A bag of feeds is 100,000 and therefore as Ugandans, we cannot afford to have fish and that's why there is a lot of pressure on the lakes," Ms Asiimwe said.
She also tasked MPs on the equal opportunities committee to also legislate on increased emoluments for district bosses saying they do good work sometimes with MPs in their respective constituencies.
"We know that you are blessed, you have the potential to determine your emoluments but as you think about yourselves, please also think about other political leaders because we are in this together. You cannot serve alone. As you think about yourselves, think about district chairpersons," she said.
Responding to the RDC, the Committee Chairperson Ms Judith Alyek said that areas of concern were noted and she is going to work with fellow MPs to fix them.
The Sheema District Woman Member of Parliament, Ms Rosemary Nyakikongoro, told the meeting that there is a need for the government to harmoniSe and streamline salaries that have emerged as a concern across.
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"The issue of salaries is a big problem in the country not only for LCVs and councilors. You can see health workers are striking. I think it's high time government thinks of streamlining salaries so that people don't see disparities. As government and parliament, this is the time to harmonize the salaries," she said.
