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Amos Tayebwa
Mbarara
The Nbarara-based Western National Resistance Movement Concern Youth Group has joined other voices in criticising the decision of the Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Joel Senyoni, and some of his opposition colleagues to boycott the upcoming session of the regional parliament.
On May 17, Ugandan Speaker of the Parliament Anita Annette Amwin announced plans to hold parliamentary sessions in four different regions of Uganda while presiding over a plenary session.
Gulu City is expected to host the first meeting of the Northern Uganda region on August 29-30, 2024.
About Sh20 billion has been budgeted for this purpose.
The Speaker said the move to hold regional council meetings provided an opportunity to witness first-hand the challenges plaguing common people across the country.
However, a section of opposition lawmakers, led by Opposition Leader Joel Senyonyi, plan to boycott the meeting, saying it is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
But the Western National Resistance Movement Concerned Youth League was not happy with the move of Senyonyi and others.
They all expressed their appreciation to the Speaker and the House for coming up with such a brilliant idea.
At a press conference in Nbarara on Tuesday, August 13, the youths revealed that the Ugandan constitution gives the Speaker the power to convene Parliament wherever he or she wants.
Therefore, they believed that regional conferences would allow all parliamentarians to get to know the different regions, enabling them to identify the main challenges and development progress there.
Leader of the Western National Resistance Movement Concerned Youths, Herbert Nangumya, said MPs who opposed the move, especially those from the opposition parties, were wrong as they did not want development in the areas they represented.
“The funds that the parliament is going to use were allocated to the parliament by the MPs who opposed the bill. Even if the parliament does not go to these areas to meet, the funds will remain in the parliament and will not be used for hospitals and will not be used for roads because the funds have been allocated to the parliament,” he said.
“I think the MPs who are opposing this move are just playing politics to gain sympathy from the citizens. It is very wrong for the Leader of Opposition to condemn these meetings when we actually know that the top management of Parliament were the ones who made this decision and the Leader of Opposition was one of the members of that decision. Aren’t they contradicting themselves? This shows that Joel Senyoni is a traitor,” Nangumiya wondered.
Nangumya also called on locals to join hands with their district councillors and raise district issues so that when the meeting is held, all the issues affecting them can be well addressed.
Edgar Akampa, vice president of the Concerned Youth of the Western National Resistance Movement, which has more than 200 members, told reporters that most communities would benefit once these meetings take place.
“If they say they are going to go to western Uganda specifically, we expect them to discuss challenges like the Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, we also expect them to discuss challenges like the Katet Bridge.
“We see this as an opportunity for us to express our local views. We have problems with poor electricity infrastructure and poor road networks in different parts of our region, so let us accept this move by the parliament and we will benefit from it,” Acampa said.
Akampa added that those who were opposing the regional council meeting were not considering the bigger picture.
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