Africa-Press – Uganda. On July 23, 2020 Africa Leadership Institute released results of the Parliamentary Performance Scorecard for the 3rd session of the 10th Parliament, providing performance of individual Members of Parliament and the institution of Parliament .
The scorecard report is conducted by generating secondary and primary data within the precincts of Parliament and at constituency level, by conducting document review, participant observation and surveys.
From the evaluation of the 10th Parliament, the following observations can be made with policy implications for governance:
Representation . The report found out awful results on attendance. The low attendance indicates ineffective institutional systems to compel MPs to prioritise the schedule and rules. The study did not witness any systemic retribution procedures for members skipping parliamentary business.
Legislation. Overall, 51.4 per cent of the MPs participated in debates to enact laws and only 18.5 per cent of bills complied with rule of procedure of mandatory 45 days in committees , implying that time is not effectively utilised by committees . Additionally, Bills were not given equal attention as committees prioritised Bills that enabled the Executive to spend. These included amendments to the tax laws and supplementary budgets. There was no evidence of effort to compel MPs to equally prioritise bills and to conduct research to equip the House with adequate knowledge to help members address the difficult Bills.
In the oversight role, 36 per cent of national issues were raised by MPs from the western region , 27 per cent by those from the central region, 27 per cent from the north and 11 per cent from the east. The under performance of MPs from particular regions is not explained. No evidence was obtained of practical and systematic procedure for ministers to provide responses to the unanswered questions within a specific period of time.
Appropriation: Sixty per cent of the approved budgets complied with the provisions of the law and not much is known about those that did not comply. Some “autonomous bodies” did not submit annual reports to Parliament and others have backlog of reports to table. MPs were largely absent at district local council meetings which weakens the link between the national legislature and local governments.
The listed challenges notwithstanding, these recommendations could be considered:
Legislative procedure should be reviewed to compel MPs to work within the prescribed periods for disposal of Bills and conduct of other Parliamentary business.
Revise the current rules and procedures, attaching specific emoluments to appearance and contribution. This should be supported by a retributive system that compels MPs to attend a sufficient portion of Parliament business including attaching salary to percentage of monthly work time committed to Parliament business.
Parliament should schedule and compel MPs to hold quarterly feedback through consultative meetings with their constituents such that disbursement of constituency allowance should be based on evidence of this interaction in form of forms signed by local authorities, minutes of meetings, video and pictorial data.
Parliament should increase funding for the research department to generate data for individual legislators to widen their knowledge, improve quality of Bills and gain confidence to discuss a wide range of issues.
Order paper should be circulated to ministers in predictable time to enable them prepare . The library and public relations department should expand readership of the Hansard and non-classified parliamentary committee records to regional public libraries, public offices and libraries of high schools and higher learning institutions to enhance public knowledge of parliamentary business.
Werikhe Wanzala is the head of Civic Engagement and Research-Africa Leadership Institute.
