Author: Chris Obore. PHOTO/FILE/COURTESY
Under the headline ‘Power shock has House under fire’, the Saturday Monitor combined a number of separate incidents, and in a noticeable pattern, concluded that Parliament is on fire.
First, I have repeatedly said the House being held to account by citizens is legitimate and the self-correcting mechanism framers of the Constitution put in place to ensure it never veers off the path of serving the best interest of the people.
This is the mindset of Parliament and explains why it is one of the few legislatures in the world with the most open media policies and the only one in the region which allows camera persons access almost everywhere. This is intentional and deliberate, in sowing a culture of openness and transparency, and ensuring political accountability.
Now, back to the article, the first point on the recent arrest of MPs being in court will not merit a comment, but the common thread is that Parliament never holds itself as an exception to scrutiny in the fight against corruption, which I insist must be evidence-based and that the presumption of innocence, a constitutional imperative, holds true.
In fact, it is Parliament which, through its Committee on Tourism, Trade and Industry lifted the lid on the improprieties around the cooperatives money, and the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, shared the House’s findings with relevant authorities, in fulfilment of the legislature’s oversight mandate.
It might help readers to know that this cooperatives money heist was the ‘thing’ in the 10th Parliament.
Now, on the generators procured for the residences of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker, which was also catalogued in the story, a market survey was conducted by Parliament’s engineers who came up with those specifications, and in the entire process, value for money was placed at the forefront.
It is laughable that some colleagues in the media think the generator was worth Shs36m! Anyway, the Parliament’s Accounting Officer, who is the Clerk to Parliament, run all the procurements by the Solicitor General, who cleared the contracts with minor modifications.
While on the face of it the figures are on the high side, other suppliers had actually quoted higher figures than what we settled for to deliver the quality specifications. It is unfortunate that even some political leaders who enjoy privileges by virtue of their offices, are running to media houses talking about the benefits of the Speaker.
I would be surprised if any journalist asked such leaders whether they relinquished or even downgraded their entitlements since they assumed office. Journalists have allowed some political leaders to play popularity games at the expense of others.
But I must make it categorically clear that those generators are a property of Parliament of Uganda and are only deployed for use in the residence of the current leadership to ease Parliament’s responsibility to secure them and is transferrable to the next set of office bearers, which is precisely why Parliament went for the best generators in the market. It is important that this country perhaps holds a discussion on the benefits for leaders across the spectrum, because we find ourselves having to constantly clarify on benefits meant for office bearers in Parliament – which are structural advantages accruing to those offices – as thought they are a creation of the current leadership.
When consensus is formed to withdraw benefits that come with political/constitutional offices, let that happen across the board and Parliament will be no exception.
I know of a leader who is not entitled to a lead car but has one, yet he talks more about wastage of taxpayers' money! Perhaps his lead car saves taxpayers.
Then there was a reference to the table used by the Hon Theodore Ssekikubo to collect signatures to support a motion he is drafting. That, quite obviously, was an honest house-keeping issue that had nothing to do with the politics of the motion.
Indeed, when the Hon Ssekikubo brought the same to the attention of the Sergeant at Arms, the table was restored and will be available for such length of time and at such place in the precincts of Parliament as the Hon Ssekikubo will desire to achieve his purpose.
Parliament staff are professional, politically dispassionate technocrats dedicated to serving all the shades represented in Parliament without bias, affection or ill-will.
Lastly, it will not profit the cause of accountability if the quest is personalised and weaponised to specifically target the leadership of Parliament, specifically Anita Among, in a manner that criminalises everything due to her simply by virtue of bearing the office.
The hate and choreographed smear campaign against Among is so obvious that even a stranger in Uganda can see it.
Chris Obore is the Director of Communication and Public Affairs at Parliament.
