The Parliament of Uganda has been under attack in what has been referred to as Parliament exhibition through Twitter.
Whereas public officials and public institutions should be checked, this should be done in respect to their core mandate. As the saying goes, Africans centralize marginal issues and marginalize central issues.
Certainly whoever is running the exhibition is missing the point, because he is using a wrong yardstick to judge Parliament and its leadership. The role of Parliament is to carry out oversight, to do appropriation and to make laws, that’s the core mandate on which it should be evaluated.
Parliament should be judged on how many bills have been passed, budgets passed and the level of their scrutiny and how many government institutions have been called to account. The other issues of recruitment, contracts etc. are important but not the major ones! Why should Ugandans on twitter spend a whole day debating on which person was appointed or not appointed as Joel Ssenyonyi’s personal assistant? Why should Ugandans spend a whole day debating a nonexistent official leave by the Speaker which they know never happened?
If Ugandans follow eleventh Parliament proceedings, do they remember how MPs led by Speaker Annet Among defended their interests by rejecting the fake Vinci Coffee Agreement that the Ugandan government had entered into with Enrica Pinneti? Do they remember how Parliament saved billions of monies that were being stolen at NSSF? Do Ugandans remember that Parliament passed the Local Content law to compel foreign companies to employ local Ugandans? Do Ugandans remember that Parliament passed the Anti homosexuality law to preserve our cultures and morals as a society?
For the last six months alone Parliament has had 64 sittings in which 16 bills have been passed, 4 petitions concluded, 50 resolutions adopted, 7 authorizations given to government, 254 questions responded to, 53 ministerial statements tabled, 14 Action reports by government read among others.
Above all Parliament hosted the 27th Speakers and Presiding Officers Conference, one of its kind which projected our country internationally and globally hence improving our trade and tourism opportunities. This is in addition to facilitating a process that challenged the motion by the European Union Parliament stopping funding to the oil pipeline project that was led by the Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa during African Caribbean and Pacific- European Union summit that was held in Mozambique.
With all that work being done, how would some Ugandans because of their social media influence want to divert the country to focus on petty issues? Why should Ugandans who are even educated not know the mandate of Parliament and rather choose to judge it based on fake accusations?
The author is a political analyst.
