I WOULD RATHER BE DISOWNED BY NRM THAN MY CONSTITUENTS
Richard Muhumuza Gafabusa Bwamba County MP (NRM) Voted NO
Question – We understand you met the President before voting in Parliament. What reasons did you give him for not supporting an amendment he campaigned for?
Answer “I haven’t met the President on my own, but we only met him as the Legal Affairs committee to present to him our report. But even when we went there, he was quick to say that ‘please let us talk as a committee and don’t bring your constituency issues here’. I think he had learnt that some of our voters had said no. So we were limited to the committee work.”
“But immediately I came back from my consultations, I met the chief whip and Prime Minister one-on-one and I also put in writing the position of my voters. The chief whip assured me that she would present my issues to the President.
And if there was a convincing response to the issues raised by my voters, perhaps they would have revoked their earlier position. But there was no response. So voters asked me never to dare touch it and they even threatened to burn my house by the way.”
By Richard Muhumuza Gafabusa Bwamba County MP (NRM) Voted NO against the infamous removal of article 102b.
My comment DWM
Any political party that takes it’s constituents, members, supporters and well wishers for granted fails to understand the basic codes of democracy and common purpose of the said organisation. Political parties exist because of people not the other way round. History is the best teacher. Political parties which have felt so comfortable in power and ignored the cries of citizens all went down the tube of oblivion. This has been so especially in personalised organisations where the founders controlled the party as a hereditary commodity or family business. Take an example of Uganda Peoples Congress that was controlled by Dr Milton Obote and Kenya African National Union where President Daniel Arap Moi turned it into his own little business. Both UPC and KANU have ended up being led by family members even today. I fear to say that National Resistance Movement is no different. It has the traits of both KANU and UPC that shut any criticism out and called those who dared to point out mistakes as traitors. Political parties come and go but citizens and country go no where.
Political parties should be channels which use and manage tax payers cash to deliver services as promised in their manifestos or as required by the nation.
Just as other millions of Ugandans, I believe that Uganda deserves better than what is on the menu at the moment. The country is being governed like an animal farm and is losing control in all spheres including security that is seeing too many people being hacked to death by criminals in collaboration with some rogue security agents.
Almost every program projected by government has ended up losing huge amounts of money. The failure to deal with the cancer of corruption is killing more people than rebels. People are dying in hospitals due to lack of both medicine and equipment. Theatres do not function and lack almost everything from gloves to injection needles. There is no water in most health centres and hospitals. Nurses, Midwives, doctors, clinical staff etc are not paid on time.
Police Stations still have the colonial Mabati round small or mud huts for officers. People who are supposed to keep law and order are under paid. Their Pensions delayed or lost in the system. Their families are in serious financial problems.
It does not stop their. Anyone who has ever been to Special Forces Command and Army Barracks knows that 90% of the houses are so ancient, dilapidated and rundown. Our heroic officers and their families live in very bad conditions while the country loses billions of shillings every other day. Remember the police and the army are the backbone of security; that is law and order. Most army schools are not better than government run down schools around the country. The lives of the citizens come first than keeping some people in government.
It is a tragedy that the government has prioritised passing out military personnel every year and ignored the fundamental foundations of a growing country through education and Health. The Armed Forces or the Military is there to protect already healthy and well looked after citizens not ill, sick and illiterate people.
These are but a few issues critically facing Uganda. Failure for those given the mandate to solve these problems produces a backlash and must expect a revolt from the voters. Those in authority have themselves to blame. They have been given so many chances. Uganda deserves better.
David Wangusi Masinde
