1.9Billion for MPs to
consult on the Marriage and Divorce Bill can instead change the face of service
delivery in Uganda.
By Adellah Agaba
After a five-year lull, the Divorce
and Marriage Bill was brought to Parliament, kicking off a storm. The bill has
met stiff opposition from not only a section of the legislators, but religious
leaders and the public at large with a fear that some clauses will undermine
the intent of the institution of marriage itself. All this ignited debate in
all foras including the media forcing the parliamentarians to go on an early
Easter break to consult their constituencies.
Now to kick off this process, each MP will
receive Shs5 million to facilitate them in consulting their constituents on the
controversial Marriage and Divorce Bill. The President wrote to the Speaker of
Parliament instructing the House Commission and the Clerk to Parliament to
effect the payment of the money to the legislators in time for the
consultations.
This means that over 1.9 Billion shillings will
be dished out to the 386 Honourable Members of Parliament to consult in their
constituencies. At this stage one wonders what the honourables are paid a
salary to do. In my own understanding, they are paid to legislate for their
constituencies which of course consultations is part of the process.
The people they are consulting don’t even have a
meal for the day yet 5Million is being spent in a process that has already
shown a lot of discontentment in the general public. The question stays as to
whether this discussion is necessary at the expense of tax payers’ money!
Let’s see what this 1.9Billion can do in changing
the face of service delivery in the country. The state of our roads here in the
city centre before you even look far is so alarming to the extent that we have
fish ponds in the city centre not forgetting the poor drainage system. The
constituencies to be consulted some don’t have drugs in the health centre IIs
and IIIs. The conditions especially in the maternity wards are shocking. Our
education system is still lacking with pupils still studying under trees in
these same constituencies where consultations are going to take place. The teachers
and health workers are crying on low salaries and delayed payments which affect
their cost of living and of course their morale to boost service delivery. This
money can make an overhaul in service delivery!
Are the consultations a priority looking at the
state of our services in the country? Whichever way you look at it, spending
1.9Billion tax payers’ money on consultations does not indicate value for money
and we hope that the “Honourables” will be able to account for the money after
this whole process is done.
It should be remembered that this is not the
first time money is being dished out to influence a stalling process in
parliament. The same was done to amend the constitution on issues of term
limits, and the most recent one at the beginning of 2011 when MPs were given
20million each for campaigns in order to pass a 600million supplementary
budget.
The sad part about all
this is that the tax payer will always pay for such expenses and get no
services. Like they say don’t blame the player, blame the game. Good luck to the Members of Parliament as
they consult their constituencies on the hot issues in the Marriage and Divorce
Bill, hoping there will be Value for Money!
The
writer works with Uganda Debt Network
