By Mulengera Reporters
Referencing what he and the Attorney General Kiwanuka Kiryowa allegedly did at the Justice Ministry headquarters, Norbert Mao used his Tuesday media event to illustrate how he would be a different speaker. He said when they joined with KK, they found a lot of security deployment at the ministry headquarters along Parliamentary Avenue and many visiting clients, including elderly persons, were being inconvenienced and intimidated by high security presence.
He explained they took a decision to have all that relaxed and the deployment was scaled down to merely what was necessary. He explained that these days, growing numbers of Ugandans can access the Ministry premises very easily without much hassle.
Mao contrasted this with the situation at Parliament and vowed to use his office as Speaker to make the place less intimidating and more accessible. He described what prevails today to the premises being akin to an army garrison which he said was unnecessary and indicative of a leadership that is paranoid and not comfortable with ordinary people coming around to access the relevant offices.
He likened Parliament to a public square which ordinary citizens should freely access at all times to bring all manner of petitions even those as trivial as complaining about stray dogs in one’s community. He said there should be nothing wrong with Parliament being accessible by citizens regardless of whether they have appointment or not. He said that doing so would help bring meaning to Jacob Oulanyah’s wish to deliberately turn the institution into a truly people-centered Parliament.
He said there are many things Oulanyah intended to put in place and desired to see at the Parliament he had been elected to lead including being a more accountable institution that is always prepared to be open and transparently respond to all manner of claims and allegations, including stupid ones implying existence of grand corruption at the legislature. He said he intends to be a Speaker who every MP will be comfortable approaching for any issue.
He said he will never be a Speaker who shouts at and shuts up members and desires to be feared. “In fact, I will be reaching out to ensure even the quietest MP is encouraged to speak out. There is a lot they will learn from me on how to become better legislators because I will be leading by example. Even here in DP, that’s how I lead-making sure all my members are comfortable with me as their leader and are enabled to contribute even stupid ideas during party meetings.”
Mao also said he is concerned with widespread resentment citizens have towards Parliament. He said this is something he will be deliberately addressing to make everyone feel at home while at Parliament. He also said he wants to be a Speaker who inspires other MPs to become better legislators and that he won’t behave like a cashier. He didn’t explain what this was in reference of though the same utterance caused laughter amongst the large army of journalists who had assembled to listen to him.
Quoting outgoing Erute South MP Jonathan Odur who one time claimed to have been misled by people on the street into thinking that the word Oweekitibwa (honorable) meant being a thief in Luganda, Mao said it was appalling that today a member of the Buganda Lukiiko is a much more respected and revered person than a Member of Parliament. Saying this isn’t how it ought to be, Mao vowed to use the office of Speaker to reverse this unenviable situation, which he described as anomalous and unacceptable. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
