George Muhimbise
At the beginning of this political term in 2021, while in Kyankwanzi at the NRM retreat, President Museveni hinted on a possibility of doing away with Parliament. He actually accused MPs of wasting time raising points of order and procedure instead of discussing serious things. Indeed as time went on, there is glaring evidence that Parliament is being undermined by the Executive arm of government. There has been a deliberate campaign to demonise Parliament before the population, until we can probably reach a point where the citizens can accept a proposal to do away with Parliament. This is not to shield Parliament or its leadership from scrutiny, but to emphasise the need for a fair judgment!
The level of disrespect to Parliament is seen in the low turnout of Cabinet ministers in Parliament sessions. At some point the Speaker has been forced to adjourn the house because Ministers have refused to come and explain issues being put to them. Then you have state machinery like RDCs and government mouthpieces attacking Parliament in the media. If the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary are three arms of the same government, why would RDCs be all over radio stations attacking Parliament and MPs if they are not on a given mission?
Then you have several Parliament resolutions being undermined or ignored by the Executive. Therefore, the arrests of several MPs over allegations of corruption is not meant to address corruption but rather to demonise Parliament as an arm of government. Its long term objective is to tell the population that Parliament is useless so that any proposal to remove it is justifiable!
As we head for 2026 elections, a time when the government should account to the voters, there must be someone else to blame for the poor service delivery other than the Executive. In an event that there is no explanation, then Parliament becomes a soft target.
A case in point, Transparency International has for over 10 years always ranked Judiciary and Uganda Police as the most corrupt institutions in this country, but how come I have never seen the President or the state crack the whip against these institutions?
Coincidentally MPs who are accused of corruption are being arrested by Police ( which is among most corrupt) and taken to courts (also among the most corrupt), how funny!
To understand that it is a deliberate move to demonise Parliament, the MPs are arrested for allegedly demanding for a share of the budget for government agencies. The budget process begins with the Ministry of Finance which prepares Budget Call circular, to the various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) and then back to Finance Ministry/Executive and to legislature for debate and later again to the Finance Ministry for the final compilation of the figures.
If there is any move to share money within the budget, it can’t be by MPs alone. It has to involve the technical people in the Ministry of Finance as well as the relevant MDAs because the process of budgeting spending is rigorous and involves many hands, certainly not the MPs alone. So why has the state arrested only MPs? Why haven’t the technocrats from the Ministry of Finance or any other agency been arrested?
