Re: Nsibambi is as right as Ssekandi is wrong
Parliament is the supreme legislative organ of the land.
And of course it is they to determine their amulets. This is a no brainer !! Giving this legislative power to any other unelected body would be to undermine the trust we have put in parliament.
So Hon Ssekandi is right, Nsibambi wrong.
And Waliggo should definitely know this.
If parliament abuses this power and gives themselves obscene pay then the opposition and the electorate should note this as a future campaign issue to vote out whoever is party to such an abuse.
That is the nature of the democratic practice, folks.
Let's grow up.
Mitayo Potosi
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| Nsibambi is as right as Ssekandi is wrong |
|
On Thursday, the Speaker of Parliament Edward Ssekandi and Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi had a policy clash on the determination of MPs emoluments. The Prime Ministers position was that MPs should not determine their wages. He said an independent commission should do the job. His statement had been provoked by Rev. John Mary Waliggo, who had submitted that allowing MPs to determine their wages amounts to conflict of interest, which has no place in modern or civilised leadership ethics. The Prime Minister is absolutely right and the Speaker is wrong in equal proportions. For Heavens sake the MPs should not abuse their privilege as legislators to do what is glaringly obscene. Incidentally, the Prime Minister is also paid as an MP but he had the honesty to say its unethical to award oneself a salary price. If all workers in this country were allowed to determine their own wages, everybody would demand to be paid Shs5m, 10m, 15m 20m... and only the sky would be the limit. The country would tragically plunge into runaway inflation due to uncontrolled wages that do not match with production. All of us would want to get hefty pay cheques if we were allowed the latitude to do so. But that doesnt make it right. One does not need to be a genius to know that allowing a worker, as MPs are, to decide how much his or her labour should be paid for is profoundly wrong. The Speaker shamelessly argued that the preserve of Parliament to determine its wages arose from the fear that its oversight role would be compromised if the Executive was to decide on the MPs emoluments. The same MPs have been determining their earnings, but this did not stop them from being compromised with a mere Shs5m by the Executive in 2005 to selfishly amend the constitution. Therefore the Speakers argument must collapse in light of the foregoing. There is no amount of money that can restrain a corrupt mind. The URA staff are among the most highly paid workers in the country. But they are also among the most corrupt employees on the land. MPs should not turn into insatiable symbols of aggrandisement of the national treasury and parasites on the poor masses they represent, the majority of whom live on one meal a day, cant take their children to school but have to pay taxes to raise MPs wages. |
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