Putting Oulanyah's outbursts in context Columnists
Thursday, 17 July 2014 23:32
Written by MOSES KHISA 
Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah has issues with our Parliament.
Not that there is anything particularly new and surprising the Omoro MP is saying; but coming from the person of Oulanyah, and the deputy speaker of Parliament, it is worthwhile to take a closer look at what he is telling Ugandans.
Addressing the media on Monday, in his signature fiery tone and gusto, the deputy speaker fell short of declaring the ninth Parliament useless. Oulanyah reminded us that Parliament was unnecessarily big; no surprises there, Honorable Speaker. The real surprise is that Oulanyah is waking up to that fact now.
He also told us that Parliament was like a crowd without much substance; pretty much, Mr Speaker. When MPs stand up to talk, Oulanyah went on to emphasise, they have neither facts nor reasoned arguments to make. They don't do research and can only speak politics which doesn't need researched information. Fair enough.
In sum, the quality of debate and the general performance of Parliament today, Oulanyah told us, hardly compares with the robust debates in the independence Parliament in the 1960s. Oulanyah had a few names from the 60s, names of MPs who were real legislators to boot: Cuthbert Obwangor, and Adoko Nyekon, among others.
He seemed not to have any star-debaters and laudable performers to mention from the ninth Parliament, that he and Speaker Rebecca Kadaga lead. Who is to blame for this mess? Oulanyah appears to have no answers, and that's when you sense the hypocrisy and cheap grandstanding.
We may wish to recall that, as chair of the Legal Affairs committee in the seventh Parliament, Oulanyah was a key player in the sweeping amendments to the 1995 Constitution, which, among other regressive changes, handed the country a life-presidency.
It was the same Parliament that sheepishly oversaw unprecedented proliferation of unviable entities called districts. The ninth Parliament started on a high in 2011. It promised a lot and actually did deliver quite a bit of what Ugandans expected from their elected representatives. But before long, the Ssabalwanyi, using the ruling behemoth's caucus and unfettered access to state resources, pegged Parliament back and systematically undermined its effectiveness.
Oulanyah has been at the centre of quite a few controversial decisions in Parliament and is seen by the opposition as a hired, loyal servant of General Museveni, and not a deputy speaker of the legislature. Thus, for someone who has availed himself more to the service of the president than the nation, and actively contributed to watering down the independence and sanctity of Parliament, to turn around, purporting to bemoan its quality, smacks of hypocrisy.
If Oulanyah means well in his comments, he should tell the country why the ninth Parliament promised so much at the beginning yet has delivered very little substance. It can't be simply because MPs are too many or because they don't research. This still begs the question, why?
We know that a bloated Parliament exerts a big financial burden to the national treasury. But Parliament is hardly the only institution with unnecessarily big numbers and a huge cost of administration. What about Cabinet, the more than 100 district local governments, countless presidential advisers, RDCs and their assistants?
The cost of running the Presidency, as The Observer ably reported on Wednesday, is as despicable as the absurdity of running a 370-strong Parliament in a country of 35 million people and a small economy of $21bn.
A big-size Parliament is not the core problem; it's not a direct contributor to poor quality and uninformed debating. The big numbers are not a direct stumbling block to Parliament being effective in its oversight functions, especially checking excessive presidential powers that border on imperial rule.
For the many ineffective MPs in that House, there are equally a few who do sufficient research and debate from an informed point. But their efforts tend to be in vain. Their attempts at serious legislative work are scuttled by the arrogance of the ruling party and the blind loyalty of, especially, none other than Deputy Speaker Oulanyah.
The most important antidote to parliamentary independence and efficiency has been the NRM caucus, which over the past decade has evolved into a Parliament within Parliament. General Museveni, using state resources, employs the NRM caucus as the clearing house of parliamentary business and stretches the politics of numbers with remarkable brilliance to gratuitous extremes.
On several occasions, including during the controversial passing of the Public Oder Management Bill, Oulanyah has been an unwavering accessory to the reckless use of numbers to push through what the president wants.
With his role in desecrating the Constitution and aiding the takeover of Parliament by the NRM caucus and State House, can we say the reason Oulanyah spoke so passionately about the poor quality of Parliament is because he genuinely wants a better Parliament? I don't think so.
If he cared about its quality, Oulanyah would have conducted parliamentary business independently, impartially and judiciously, rather than running his office like an extension of State House.
moses.khisa@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The author is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Northwestern University, Evanston/Chicago-USA.
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