Members of Parliament have expressed concern over the continued absence of Ministers from Plenary.
The concern was raised by Hon Ssemujju Nganda (Kira Municipality) h who said that the Ministers are not giving Ugandan taxpayers the value for their money that is spent by Parliament when they fail to attend to respond to issues of Ugandans.
“I have an issue with the attitude of Government to Parliament, you can see on the front page today, there is only Hamson Obua, and Muruli Mukasa who is the only elder here and I have taken note, there are Ministers who are never here especially those who are above 65 years from; Kahinda Otafiire, Rebecca Kadaga, Jim Muhweezi, Moses Ali,” added Ssemujju.
The Deputy Speaker Rt Hon Thomas Tayebwa also re-echoed the same and asked Ministers to always attend Plenary.
“This house is a mix of all of us, I usually don’t like to make statements which make a member uncomfortable as if he is a less of a member but the problem is, Rule 114 of our Rules of Procedure of attendance of Ministers doesn’t specify. I know the issue of attendance of Ministers, but Ministers, talk to your colleagues to come to the House because they are comfortable getting salaries from this House but uncomfortable coming and addressing issues,” said Thomas Tayebwa .
Many times Ministers have missed plenary sessions even when they have issues to respond to that are raised by Members of Parliament