By Mulengera Reporters
In his latest media column, IHK hospital founder Dr. Ian Clarke was very complementary towards Norbert Mao who he says as a young lawyer was always his patient along with his very good friend Jacob Oulanyah.
That he first got to know them when still students of Makerere before closely interacting with them as his patients years later. Clarke doesn’t find anything wrong with Mao leveraging the legal provisions which allow every MP to vie for Speakership, and also with his decision seeking to hold what briefly was occupied by his peer Oulanyah.
“Whatever one may think of Mao, he is hard to put down. He has instincts of a political survivor and a wicked sense of humour. When he was asked to conduct a charity auction, he quipped that anyone who could sell a whole political party could not fail at a mere auction,” Clarke writes about Mao in his column titled “The Business of Next Parliament.”
Clarke also makes reference to the fact that legally, the power to choose the next Speaker of Parliament ordinarily rests with individual MPs and not NRM’s CEC. “The Speaker of any Parliament is supposed to provide an independent adjudicating voice of reason to proceedings.”
He makes reference to John Bercow who shepherded the British Parliament (House of Commons) and prudently steered the situation in the UK shortly before and after the Brexit vote. He says that how the 529 MPs react to and reciprocate Mao’s candidature will determine or signal the character and spirit of the 12th Parliament.
Clarke also makes reference to the stalled bid to enact the National Insurance Scheme law for Uganda, which he regrets has eluded the 11th Parliament even when it ordinarily should have been one of the most consequential pieces of legislation to come from the National Assembly given the resultant public interest benefits. He hopes and prays that the same will be given priority and ends up being delivered upon by the 12th Parliament.
He implies that his former patient Norbert Mao is one person who would leverage the position of Speaker to prioritize such public interest legislation and generally treat the same issue with the urgency it deserves. He is convinced that Mao is broad-minded enough to appreciate the universal benefits such legislation would deliver for every Ugandan, and not just a select few.
“This [National Health Insurance] is the sort of issue that should be tabled in the next Parliament and constructively debated so the person who is the next Speaker is relevant to all of us since that person decides what gets on the order paper and whether Parliament brings forward Bills that contribute to Uganda’s ongoing development or engages in self-serving politics,” Clarke’s column reads in part.
He desires to see an objective body like Makerere’s School of Public Health play a key role in implementing and rolling out that national health insurance scheme once the relevant law has been enacted.
In the same article, the much-revered Ian Clarke also calls out the injustice and unfairness that was manifested in the way former Karamoja Affairs State Minister Agnes Nandutu was crucified to suffer for and on behalf of all the other political leaders who partook of the OPM iron sheets meant for the Karachunas in Karamoja. “It’s this kind of result that makes ordinary citizens cynical about politics in Uganda-though we are all equal, some are more equal than others.”
While commending Mao for not backing down from the race for Speakership, Ian Clarke asserts: “Now that we are about to get a new Parliament, we await to see who will be more equal in this one. One person who occupies a key position in any Parliament is the Speaker…” (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
