Written by Moses Walubiri Friday, 08 July 2011 09:18
Former vice president Prof Gilbert Bukenya runs the risk of forfeiting his Busiro County North seat in parliament if he fails to attend the next two plenary sessions. Bukenya has so far missed thirteen consecutive plenary sessions, and according to parliamentary rules of procedure, any MP who misses 15 plenary sessions without seeking official leave from the speaker of parliament automatically loses his seat.
However, the absence of such precedence might come in handy for the beleaguered former VP who is currently battling court cases over electoral malpractices and graft.
Meanwhile, in a parliament characterized more by partisan bickering over policy and other issues, the debate over the nomination of MPs to represent Uganda in the Pan African Parliament made some news.
During the presentation of nominees for the Pan African Parliament (PAP), the need to send "members of substance" - as Terego county legislator Kasiano Wadri labeled them - to the PAP found a common appeal across the political divide.
Reeling off names of previous representatives to the Johannesburg based parliament, the house unanimously called for the appointment of brilliant legislators whose legislative credentials will not embarrass the 9th parliament that is delegating them.
Legislators who cannot be traced on the parliamentary Hansard for the last five years - according to Buyaga county MP Barnabas Tinkasiimire - don't deserve to represent Uganda at PAP.
According to insider sources in the NRM, the ruling party had appointed Rusaniya, Kataike Ndhoboli, Onyango Kakoba and Lokii, while Dokolo district woman MP Cecilia Ogwal was appointed by FDC to take up its slot for PAP. The legislators' genuine concerns have reportedly forced NRM to review its candidates for PAP.
State of growing poverty
The most important debate this week, however, was the deliberations in response to the address on the President's State of the Nation address delivered to Parliament by the president on Tuesday June 7, 2011.
Although a host of MPs extolled the president for appreciating the key problems affecting the country and the panacea for such problems, the legislators were almost unanimous in faulting the government's failure to implement its economic policies highlighted in previous state of the nation addresses.
From a rapidly depreciating Shilling against the dollar, to incessant load shedding, unemployment, poor service delivery, corruption, and high food prices, the projected rosy economic growth figure (of 9.1%) is not reflected in the increasing number of Ugandans currently wallowing below the poverty line.
According to the Leader of Opposition Nandala Mafabi (Pictured Right) , the agricultural sector's contribution to GDP has consistently declined over the last five years despite the government's acknowledgement of its status as the mainstay of Uganda's economy.
This decline in the agriculture sector is largely responsible for the widespread poverty in Uganda, as the government seems to lack a coherent policy to the sector which employs the majority of Ugandans despite its much vaunted NAADS programme.
Because of the current surge in commodity and fuel prices, Mafabi recommended an increase in the PAYE threshold from the current Ushs 130,000 to 350,000 in order to relieve financial pressure on lowly paid government civil servants.
MPs -including those in the NRM - decried the government's failure to walk its talk on fighting graft which has ended up hampering effective service delivery in their respective constituencies.
The debate came in the wake of a strike by Kampala traders over the surging cost of doing business in the country which is making it hard for them to accrue any profits from their merchandise. And central to this is the surging cost of the dollars.
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