The Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah has tasked legislators in the 11the Parliament to concentrate on interests of the people as opposed to issues that do not impact on them.
The Speaker made the remarks on Friday morning at the Launch of the Opposition Legislative agenda by members of the opposition political parties in Parliament where they highlighted key sectors which they want revised and discussed before parliament.
“Put your focus and interests on the people who elected you to Parliament rather than on trivial issues like regime change,” said Oulanyah.
“Honourable Members let’s keep our eyes on the ball. The ball is this Country and it’s People. The ball is not the regime. A focus on the regime is a narrow and a wrong focus,” added the Speaker.
According to Oulanyah, there exists a gap between the people of Uganda and their representatives in Parliament, which he says must be bridged henceforth by the lawmakers themselves.
“There is a widening gap between Members of Parliament and the Citizens (local people) and there is need to bridge that gap. It is the responsibility of the Parliamentarians to make sure the gap is bridged,” he says.
The remarks coincide with his aspirations for the 11th Parliament he told the nation days to being elected Speaker in May this year. Oulanyah said then, that he aspires to change the image of the Parliament so the citizens would pride in their representatives.
“We want to see the story of the 11th parliament be retold and rewritten, we want to sing praises of the Parliament of Uganda. The situation has not been good, the country has resented its Members of Parliament, we want that to change. I want restore confidence, respect and trust of the people in parliament,” said the Speaker in May.
He asserted that parliament ought to focus on service delivery to the people and help them in the social economic transformation of their lives.
The speaker had earlier this week during plenary rallied MPs to focus on national interest and better service delivery to the people as well as doing research inorder to make evidence-based submissions in Parliament.
“The era of gambling with speeches is over, let us do research. The era of throwing figures and statistics whose sources are us is over. We want the people to read the Hansard as an authoritative document that can be quoted by researchers, students and other people interested in know what is happening in the country,” noted the Speaker.
He explained that “things have truly changed” in Parliament warning those who are still waiting that the “bus is off the stage.”
“Let us work, the society is watching and they are watching keenly what we are going to do with them and for them,” said the Speaker.