During the Tuesday plenary session of Parliament, MPs (led by Eddie Kwizera, Joseph Sewungu and Solomon Silwanyi) went on rampage protesting persistent absence of majority Ministers who were required to respond to matters of national importance raised by legislators.
Some of the outstanding questions of the day related to unexplained murdering of innocent people in Kisoro and also the rampaging leopards which escaped from their habitat and have been giving Soroti City residents sleepless nights. These were raised by Eddie Kwizera and Joan Alobo respectively.
Speaker Oboth-Oboth considered these to be very important questions yet the line Ministers to respond to them were nowhere to be seen. The few Ministers present were led by David Bahati, who represented Robinah Nabbanja, the leader of government business.
The conspicuous absence of the honorable Ministers prompted Sewungu to call on an evidently aggrieved Speaker to embrace his idea of erecting a big notice board at the entrance area of Parliament where names and portraits of the most regular and effective Ministers would be displayed declaring them ‘Minister of the Month.’ Sewungu predicted that Jackson Kafuzi and David Bahati would dominate that hall of fame.
Sewungu suggested that doing such would pressurize Ministers to take Parliament business seriously and begin to attend plenary sessions regularly. Oboth-Oboth didn’t clearly state whether he was buying the suggestion or not. Instead, the Speaker decided to lead the trumpeting MPs into naming the most compliant Ministers when it comes to being present and prioritizing plenary sessions of Parliament.
He said as MPs they know one day the President will be doing course review on his Cabinet to determine who gets dropped and who gets retained in a subsequent reshuffle. He said as Parliament, they had a duty to signal the President who of his Ministers deserves kudos and who deserves dust-binning.
Without explaining the criterion, he was basing on, Oboth-Oboth proclaimed the most efficient and prudent Ministers so far to include: David Bahati whose nomination MPs unanimously agreed with largely because of his record when it comes to attending and speaking in plenary. He simply has no comparison when it comes to taking Parliament seriously. He responds to invites for Committee sessions too and takes them as seriously as he takes plenary.
The others who Oboth-Oboth read out included Henry Musasizi (who MPs like for frequently coming around and eloquently giving truthful answers to their concerns), Tom Anza (who stood up and thanked the Speaker for taking note of him), Lydia Wanyoto, Jackson Kafuzi, Ali Siraje, Okasai Opolot (who dared a female MP who doubted his vitality to step forward and get publicly extinguished), Judith Nabakooba, Peter Ogwang (who was present and tried to defend fellow Cabinet members against Francis Zzaake’s claim that they are liars and disrespectful), Julius Wandera Maganda and Margaret Muhanga.
Zzaake provoked Ogwang into defensiveness after he insinuated that the reason why Ministers always dodge is because they run out of what to say after their lies and unfulfilled promises catch up with them. Ogwang argued that its imprudent to castigate Ministers for promising and failing to deliver on things because many of these in the end have financial implications yet the resource envelope is always inadequate, not just in Uganda but globally. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
