Uganda's Speaker joins the PNoWB

Ugandan Parliamentarians will now be involved earlier in World Bank-financed projects, a key measure that will strengthen the dialogue and engagement between the World Bank and Members of Parliament. In a pilot program announced in December 2007 by the outgoing Uganda Country Manager, Ms. Grace M. Yabrudy, the Members of Parliament (MPs) were also promised access to World Bank teams, with Government counterparts, to brief parliamentary committees periodically on topical development issues and Bank-supported projects.

At the launch of the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank - Uganda Chapter (PNoWB - Uganda Chapter), on December 13, 2007, Ms. Yabrudy said that "These important steps will not guarantee that we agree on every point but that we will take time to listen to each other and understand each other better."

Through previous meetings between the World Bank and MPs, the latter had expressed concern over late involvement in Bank-supported projects, which resulted into delays extending sometimes to almost a year to approve the projects because of the considerable time MPs spent trying to understand them.

Ms. Yabrudy assured the MPs that: "As Country Manager of the World Bank in Uganda, I have offered to pilot a program that will introduce the MPs to new projects much earlier in the project cycle, during the appraisal stage. This means that MPs will get to know a lot more about the projects almost a year before they comes to you for approval."

At the launch of the PNoWB-Uganda Chapter, presided over by the Rt. Hon. Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Edward Ssekandi Kiwanuka, he announced that he had become the 81st member of the PNoWB in Uganda and encouraged other MPs to join. "I am reliably informed that the membership of the Uganda Chapter [of the PNoWB] stands at 80 members, and I am happy to become the 81st member. I also wish to urge those who have not joined this body to do so because it is a unique platform of dialogue between the World Bank and Parliamentarians" the Speaker said.

Rt. Hon. Ssekandi, who presided over the launch at the Parliamentary Gardens in Kampala, said through the PNoWB, the World Bank's role in Poverty reduction will better be understood by MPs, thereby "widening the parliamentarians' knowledge base so that they are able to confidently engage in policy dialogue and exchange views with various stakeholders and partners including those in the World Bank."

He reminded the MPs that they represented themselves and their constituencies in the PNoWB ensuring that "our constituents, deep down in the grassroots, have their interests represented in the World Bank." Sekandi said that since the PNoWB "enhances transparency and accountability of public programs which are funded by the World Bank and other Development Partners, is vital because as Parliament this is the sector with which we work closely and that we oversee."
 
Speaking at the launch, Hon. Henry Banyenzaki, Vice Chairman of the PNoWB said the Uganda Chapter was formally convened on 13th December 2006, when members of Parliament committed to development issues gathered together and elected a 5-person executive board to oversee the day to day activities of the PNoWB. He said over the next year the PNoWB would focus on "Institutionalizing Good Governance and Transparency, and Climate Change."

"We hope to facilitate and encourage dialogue between honorable members of parliament and the World Bank in order to achieve greater transparency of policies and practices and increase collective accountability. Particularly, we want to ensure that there is a regular and consistent flow of information between the World Bank, other Development Partners and the Parliament of Uganda, so as to promote informed debate," Banyenzaki said.
 
As part of the efforts to strengthen dialogue and engagement with Parliament, the outgoing Country Manager, Ms. Yabrudy also used the PNoWB launch event to announce that a Memorandum of Understanding was soon to be signed between the World Bank's Public Information Center and the Parliamentary Library so as to ensure a quick exchange of information to the MPs.

"Apart from our Public Information Center, which is located on the first floor of Rwenzori House, I am happy to say that in the coming weeks we are hoping to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Parliamentary Library, so it will have a special section that carries World Bank reports and Publications to make it easier for you to access them." The World Bank pledged to continue sharing up to date knowledge resources with parliamentarians to equip them for effective development dialogue.

The Speaker of parliament has already provided an office for the PNoWB secretariat and promised to support the secretariat with other logistics in partnership with the World Bank.

Ms.Yabrudy reiterated the PNoWB Uganda Chapter should facilitate and encourage direct dialogue between parliamentarians and the World Bank in order to achieve greater transparency of policies and practices and increase collective accountability. She said the PNoWB should also encourage concerted action, debate and exchange of information among parliamentarians on major issues of development, finance and poverty eradication.

Over the last three years, the World Bank office in Uganda has had a more structured dialogue with parliament which has been greatly facilitated by the creation and formalization of PNoWB Uganda Chapter, a breakaway from the PNoWB East African Chapter. Through the Uganda Chapter, several meetings have been arranged between the Bank and MPs where critical discussions were held views on development were exchanged as part of on-going dialogue.

The PNoWB is a non-partisan, member-driven network, independent association of thousands of parliamentarians from 110 countries, which promoted dialogue on issues surrounding international development. The PNoWB is open to parliamentarians from World Bank member states, with the members representing themselves and their constituents, not their countries, parliaments or governments.

Contributed by Steven Shalita, Communications Officer, AFREX

More on the PNoWB Chapters here.