Journalists in Bed With Politicians

Uganda's journalists recently announced that they were going to periodically monitor the performances of MP’s and report to the public. The performance, however, is going to be based only on each individual’s contribution to debates on the floor of parliament. Hogwash, if you ask me. You cannot judge an MP’s competence on what he/she blubbers on the floor of parliament, not with these individuals who need the whole of five minutes to make a point of order! Potato-growers, look at the social and economic indicators of each constituency by village, parish and sub-county and analyse their negative and/or positive changes periodically during an MP’s tenure. That should form up to 60% of the points to be earned and the rest can come from debates in parliament and in Journalists’ Institute-sanctioned fora. Debates should earn only 40% because some politicians are shining stars in Kampala but earn the thumbs-down when it comes to getting their hands dirty in the affairs of their constituents back home.