By Sadique Bamwita
ENTEBBE
The newly designated Members of Parliament of the Committee on Government Assurances and implementations on Friday February 23,2024, demanded government to actualize unfulfilled pledges promised to Ugandans some years ago after making assurances on the floor of Parliament and during political tours and campaigns.
The newly designated Chairperson, Dr. Abed Bwanika says because the committee members have an uphill task to follow up unfulfilled pledges, the parliament of Uganda organized an induction training to build capacities of designated new members to enable them understand the mandate of the committee and how to go about committee work.
He made the remarks in Entebbe while him and his fellow committee members were being oriented on committee work by the past committee Members of Parliament.
Speaking at the sideline after induction training, Dr. Abed Bwanika, the Chairperson of the Committee on Government Assurances and implementations appealed to fellow committee members to seriously follow up unfilled pledges and bring government to accountability. He revealed that his committee will begin with following up the construction of Lubowa international hospital which he says has stalled yet it would have been complete by now.
“We came to orient ourselves on the role of the committee and how we can go about our work. We invited the past parliamentary committee members to guide us on how best we can execute our work. Our committee is responsible for ensuring that we follow up all unfulfilled pledges that government pledged to offer to its citizens. We shall ensure government is brought to accountability, “Dr. Abed assured Ugandans.
‘We have been enriched on what we are supposed to do for instance on policy Statement, hansard, statements made by ministers on the floor of parliament among other duties. We were designated in January this year and we are just beginning to execute our roles. We shall categorize all the assurances and if government fails to fulfill any of them, then we judge it a broken assurance. Any assurances that government made and has never withdrawn it , it remains a standing assurance and we shall follow it up untill it’s fulfilled.
Hon. Robert Wandwasi, a committee member said that in most cases when committee members produce a good factual report which exposes government failures, such a report is usually disregarded by the business parliamentary committee and it never appears on the order paper.
“Quite often the committee does good work and produces a beautiful report for deliberations before the parliamentary business committee but unfortunately, if the report is biting and full of facts, it’s usually disregarded and not put on the order paper and instead it’s trashed. However, despite this, we shall do our best to ensure we deliver. Our committee is determined to oversee contracts on behalf of Ugandans,” Hon. Wandwasi pledged to work.
The Vice chairperson of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) as well as the former chairperson of the committee on government assurances and implementations, Hon. Hassan Kaps Fungaroo, said most government pledges have failed because they are supervised at the central government level yet they would be best supervised at the Local government level.
“This committee on government assurances and implementations develops standards to measure how government assurances are implemented. It also ensures that each assurance is implemented on time but not out of time. Many projects upcountry were abandoned yet on paper are considered to have been implemented. The problem arises when people have done their part by giving their leaders votes anticipating service delivery which sometimes never materializes.
‘The projects which originate from the center are never accomplished but abandoned unlike those at the local government level. For instance we went to Dokolo technical institute where government intended to expand the institute, machines were brought at the site, the contractor started the project but along the way he disappeared and abandoned it. The machines at the site have now become obsolete due to rapid change in technological advancement.
Another project was a fishing farming center in Gulu district. Construction of the fish center began well but the contractor later vanished leaving it incomplete.
Other projects which suffered catastrophe include the Rhino ferry and Arua airfield which was to be upgraded to an international airport.
“Given the said failed projects, this implies government has a bad reputation of supervising it’s projects because the supervisors operate in Kampala yet they would be best supervised at the Local government level. So, these are some of the frustrations the committee faces and it’s hard to maintain the vigor of the committee due to political witch-hunt . The legislators from the ruling party don’t want us to expose the unfulfilled pledges or projects yet they know very well committees are there to serve Ugandans, “Hon. Fungaroo expressed concern.
‘ I implore committee members to do their oversight role properly and use the acquired knowledge, skills , values and attitude to perfect your work. You must have the right attitude to be able to check government work. The purpose of the opposition is to see why government is not performing well, ” Hon. Fungaroo made the call.
The Legislator for Lugazi Municipality also a committee member, Hon. Stephen Serubula, revealed that in this Financial year government released Shs. 260m to renovate government schools like Nabisunsa Girls, Makerere college school and King’s college Budo but he was astonished when some of the school heads told him they have never received even a single penny while others told him they just heard of that money in the press.
The former leader of opposition Hon. Winnie Kiiza, who lectured the designated committee members on leadership skills, urged them to use the acquired skills to be able to steer up the committee to greater heights and at a desired level.
“Parliament is the worst place to be in because all the poor people think that it’s legislators eating tax payers money whereas it’s not true. ” I warn you that life after parliament is hard , legislators are unemployable because employers think we are so argumentative and others think we have eaten a lot of money. You should therefore, prepare yourselves while still in parliament and every opportunity you get maximise it. Make sure you package yourself to avoid languishing after parliament. Have an attitude of a team builder and be a good conflict manager to be able to manage issues without using force or harming each other.
‘Learn to delegate and resolve both internal and external issues before they run out of hand and lastly but not the least be neutral in execution of your duties.
