Members of Parliament from northern Uganda have criticized Joel Ssenyonyi, the Leader of Opposition (LOP), for announcing a boycott of regional parliament sittings scheduled to be held in several upcountry districts.
In a press briefing at Parliament on Tuesday, Ssenyonyi, along with other opposition MPs, expressed their clear stance on their participation in the upcoming regional parliamentary sitting.
“We have committees of parliament, and these go out and work on behalf of parliament. Why don’t we empower them? Many times they complain they are not able to go out to the field, but that should be their work,” Ssenyonyi said.
Ssenyonyi further argued that the committees needed to visit these areas, interact with the people, identify the issues of concern, and report to parliament for comprehensive discussion, rather than holding these regional sittings.
The northern region lawmakers expressed their grievances on Wednesday, accusing Ssenyonyi of opposing everything and questioning why he should be concerned since the funds being used are part of the money allocated to committees for oversight activities.
“Where is the wastage the honorable Ssenyonyi is talking about? This is committees’ money, not his money. It has already been approved in the budget. Is he jealous of Northern Uganda?” asked Judith Alyek, the women legislator from Kole.
Alyek further noted that she has never seen a Leader of Opposition who wants to oppose everything, even matters that common sense can address.
“Is it unfortunate that the regional sittings are going to start with Northern Uganda? I hope he would have said the same if the regional sittings were starting from another region. The desire for relevance shouldn’t cloud objective thinking,” said Faith Nakut, the Napak women representative.
Nakut also questioned whether the LOP and his shadow cabinet are unwilling to endure the discomfort of staying away from their comfortable homes in Kampala to address the challenges facing Northern Uganda.
The Kole North legislator, Samuel Opio, also criticized the LOP’s selective opposition, calling it divisive and unacceptable.
“Let it be clear that Northern Uganda isn’t part of the agenda as opposition. We need to understand that we no longer have the National Unity Platform but rather Northern Uganda Persecutors,” he highlighted.
In his response to the angry legislators, Hon. Ssenyonyi asked them to refrain from tribalizing the issue of regional parliament sittings, arguing that if they were genuinely interested in fighting poverty in their region, they would support proposals to allocate the Ush5 billion to improving services in the region.
“When you see the poverty in some of these areas and you tell people that this 5 billion is just for a meeting, it doesn’t make sense at all. They shouldn’t start tribalizing the issue because it isn’t tribal at all. We are opposed to all regional sittings, not only those for Northern Uganda,” remarked Ssenyonyi.
Since May 16, when the Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among, announced regional sittings, the issue has sparked nationwide debate, especially as it comes at a time when the August house is accused of exorbitant expenditures.
Uganda is currently grappling with resource scarcity, including the recent failure of the government, through the Ministry of Health, to fully deploy medical interns due to inadequate resources. Additionally, police officers have complained about being duped into a pay raise, with only a small portion of what was initially promised being provided.
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