Parliament-Watch-Bulletin_Mid-Term-Audit-2014

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A Mid Term Citizens’ Assessment of the 9th Parliament1.1 Objectives of the AssessmentThe overall objective of the Assessment was to track progress and assess the performance of the institution of the9th Parliament of Uganda half way its tenure, and within the context of the citizens’ expectations. It was also basedon the set agenda of the House for the Sessions there within.The specific objectives of the assessment were:• To assess the extent to which the institution of Parliament has performed and delivered in accordance withconstitutional obligations as well as citizens expectations as contained in the 11 standards of CitizensCharter for Parliament.• To analyze key legislations, resolutions and policies passed by the 9th Parliament and establish the extent towhich they are representative of the common good, respect to the constitution, and the Citizens Manifestoideals.• To assess the performance of the 9th Parliament at both plenary and committee level in relation to theiroutputs within the context of various dimensions of different standards contained in the Citizens ManifestoCharter for Parliament;• To assess the Citizens perceptions on the performance of the 9th parliament with the aim to increase andstrengthen citizens own involvement and participation in parliamentary business especially in its coremandate of legislation and executive oversight.• Finally, based on Citizens rankings of the different dimensions of the set standards, report on criticalareas that Members of the 9th Parliament and Parliament as an institution should focus on in the next 2years in fulfillment of their mandate.1.2 The Conceptual framework for this AssessmentCitizens have a basic right to make, contribute to, and influence decisions that affect them. In his book The SocialContract, Or Principles of Political Right (1762), Jean-Jacques Rousseau theorized that a perfect society should becontrolled by the “general will” of its populace. He suggested that assemblies be held in which every citizen can assistin determining the general will. Without this input from the people, there could be no legitimate government. Thismust be from the people themselves. Rousseau postulates that every law the people have not ratified in person is nulland void — is, in fact, not a law 2 and that the legislative power belongs to the people, and can belong to it alone. 3Article 1 of the Constitution of Uganda is in concord with this because it states that power belongs to the people.Government can only be legitimate if it has been sanctioned by the people in the role of the sovereign. There is thusa need to have elected representatives to deliberate on the affairs of Government on behalf of the people. These arethe MPs who enact laws, approve Government policies, budget expenditure outlays and service delivery programmes. 4Uganda’s Parliament is a democratic, parliamentary system of government modeled on the Westminster systemwhich is borrowed from the country’s former colonial masters, United Kingdom and it has is a series of proceduresfor operating a legislature.The role of the public should not be limited to simply periodic (5year term) election of its leaders. Citizens should notjust benefit from the outcomes of decisions but from direct engagement in decision making of parliament. Participationstrengthens, deepens and enriches individuals’ understanding and appreciation of their own capacities and enhancestheir ability to work productively with others. Thus systematic monitoring through Assessments of this nature shouldgenerate focused and robust public debate.It is also hoped that this Assessment will contribute to the ‘strengthening of the oversight functions of Parliamentfor accountable service delivery, as contained in Strategy 3 of the Parliament of Uganda 5-year Strategic InvestmentPlan (PSIP) 2012-2017.82 The Social Contract, Book III, Chapter 15: Deputies or Representatives.3 The Social Contract, Book III, Chapter 1: Government in General.4 Holding Members of Parliament Accountable 2006 pp. xiiiUGMP September 2014
A Mid Term Citizens’ Assessment of the 9th Parliament1.3 Process and methodology of this AssessmentTo have a comprehensive performance picture of the 9th Parliament in its first three years, the Assessment comprisedfour main parts. First, building on the Citizens’ Manifesto Charter for Parliament that is derived from the CitizensManifesto, monitoring indicators were generated for the process. The second part comprised a desk review ofavailable data and reports from plenary and respective committees of parliament, the Hansards and other availablereports from civil society, media and academia. The third part comprised informant interviews of key actors fromGovernment, Parliament, Academia, Civil Society as well as media. This phase also comprised the generation ofcommunity perspectives through stratified focus group discussions from active citizens in 35 districts currentlyinvolved in implementation of the Citizens Manifesto.1.3.1 Desk review and assessment frameworkThe Assessment scrutinised the documentary evidence within the institution of parliament to obtain and makeavailable to citizens evidence of performance or otherwise of Parliament as an institution. This included data fromthe Parliament watch index, an attempt to track the progress of Parliament in fulfilling the Citizens demands in thecitizens Manifesto Charter for Parliament.Based on the data obtained in the desk review, the performance of the 9th parliament was grouped and scored for thepurpose of this study into three categories of; Essential, Relevant and Desirable standards as derived from the Charter.Seven of the eleven standards were identified for the purpose of the Assessment to be essential in the performanceof parliament and in the delivery to citizens’ expectations. A higher value and weight of up to 70% of the totalperformance score was attached to the Essential category and was respectively distributed to the different aspects ofthe 7 essential standards.Three of the 11 standards were identified as being relevant to the functioning of parliament and delivery to citizens’expectations. The weight of 25% of the total performance score was allocated and also spread to different aspectsof the three relevant standards. Finally, one standard was graded as desirable with a weight of 5% of the totalparliamentary score in the delivery of the citizens’ expectations.1.3.2 The Methodology for Regional ConsultationsA sample of active citizens in expert group discussions in the 35 districts currently implementing the Citizens’manifesto was made. The sampled citizen representatives in this studywas required to give their perceptions on the 9th parliament’s performance on each of the 11 standards contained inthe Citizen’s Charter for Parliament.A total of 1,050 respondents consisting of a stratified sample of 30 respondents in each of the 35 districts wereengaged in panel discussions for this exercise, comprising women, youth, men, civil society actors, civil servants,among others. A citizens’ opinion assessment survey was guided by a questionnaire generated from different aspectsof the 11 standards contained in the Charter.The districts were selected on the basis of even distribution across the country. In each of the 35 districts anotherset of/, respondents were selected from at least 3 Sub Counties evenly. In each district, a total of 40 respondentswere interviewed. At least 2 LC3 Chairpersons, 5 LCV Counsellors, 5 CSO leaders, 5 Youth Councillors, 5 Localgovernment technocrats, 5 Women politicians, 5 ordinary citizens, 3 persons with disability and 5 others includingthe business community and faith-based organisations were covered, making a total of 1,400 respondents. In totaltherefore, 2450 respondents were interviewed.UGMP September 20149
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