The leader of the opposition in parliament Mathias Mpuuga has fired back at prime minister Robinah Nabbanja over her latest ban, barring him from visiting public hospitals.
The LOP made the statement during a press conference he held on Friday 16 June 2023 concerning the state of social services in the country.
Mpuuga said Nabanjja should rather concentrate on settling her Mabati saga and later seek relevance in the public that can sympathize with her.
Mpuuga also pledged to facilitate Nabanjja and take her around the country in his next oversight visits and witness the challenges affecting service delivery in the country.
The LOP noted that he is to continue with his oversight duties in different parts of the country and assured the Prime Minister that his tour schedules will begin with greater Mpigi and then to Kakumiro where she is the Woman area MP.
This misunderstanding came up after Nabanjja’s visit to Kawolo Hospital that she is reported to have issued orders to all RDCs through the country to instantly arrest the LOP should he attempt to make a visit to any health facility or school in the country.
Now, this is where the roles of the executive and that of the LOP become mixed up.
One would have thought that the executive and in this case the PM is much aware that the position and role of the LOP is enshrined in our constitution. Therefore, why would there seem to be such a clash of roles being created outside the law?
We surely need sobreity with all our leaders at all levels and in all the three arms of our governance structure if we are to nurture and protect our budding democracy.
Monitoring, evaluation and demanding accountability in government service delivery is an enshrined function and role of an elected Member of Parliament. Why then, would the executive be shaken up and disturbed by the Members of Parliament doing their role?
One would have expected that should the LOP and his accompanying MPs discover any shortcomings on such tours, the best that the executive would do is to work out ways and means to fix whatever shortcomings that were unearthed so that next year round things would be much better.
It is doubtful if only arresting the LOP or trying to prevent the country to know the extent of government service delivery will in itself be a solution to the predicament in which the majority of the wananchi are finding themselves in!
It is becoming evident that a deliberate and structured national discourse on how to improve on the government service delivery is needed involving all actors now than ever before if we as a country are going to try and come to grips with the extent of the predicament that is on our hands.
