Tenth Parliament has new breed of legislators

The people of Uganda have elected a new Parliament which I can freely describe as a “mixed grill” House.

Because of democracy and our democratic multiparty system which was entrenched in the Constitution of Uganda in 2005, Ms Judith Babirye from Buikwe, a famous gospel singer, is now a Member of Parliament representing the people of Buikwe in Kyaggwe.

Ms Babirye proved that when you do good things for people, they return the gesture. When she was on her campaign trail in Buikwe, people were telling her – “please do not waste your time speaking to us, we shall vote for you, just sing for us the gospel songs, that is all we want from you”, and truly people voted for her.

Mr Kato Lubwama, a famous broadcaster on Buganda CBS radio, and famous comedian and artiste, is also now a Member of Parliament for Rubaga South.

Mr Lubwama is gifted with big eyes and it is believed by some people that people with big eyes have the kind of brain which enables them to be visionary, thinkers, shrewd politicians and strong administrators.

Kabaka Mutesa I who invited the White Missionaries was one of them.
This Parliament will have two former Police Officers.

Judith Nabakooba, a former spokesperson for the Force, is now the Woman Member of Parliament for Mityana. The other one is Simeo Nsubuga who also served very well in the Police Force. People called him “a people’s policeman” before he retired, and he is now an MP.

The other one is Peter Sematimba, a radio broadcaster, and proprietor of Super FM Radio in Rubaga. At one time he was a kind of dancer and in 2003 he wanted to be recognized in the PAM Awards competitions. Mr Peter Sematiba is now the MP for Busiro South.

Both Kato Lubwama and Peter Sematimba remind me of Ronald Reagan, former President of the United States of America, who was a famous film actor and later ventured into politics in the Republican Party and surprised people when he won the race.

Mubarak Munyagwa, a self-made politician and Mayor of Kawempe Division is another interesting figure.

He is now the MP for Kawempe South. Munyagwa became very much known by the public by doing things which would surprise people.

Munyagwa, who has no kind words for the NRM government, once performed a “duwa” in the bush because he was not happy with what the Government was doing at that time.

Again one day, he bought a big amount of loaves of bread, loaded them on wooden wheel barrow and pushed it to Mulago Hospital to donate the bread to the patients. Unfortunately, the police stopped him on the way and the mission flopped.

That was a tactful way of letting the citizens of Kampala know him more.

The people of Uganda are waiting to see the performance of these people in the new Parliament which is expected to a very fiery Parliament especially when you see the kind of people who have been elected throughout the country.