Dear Honorable,
I would like to congratulate you upon your victory as the newly elected Member of Parliament for your constituency for the first time. Your title of Honorable is well deserved.
I must confess that I have never run for any elected public office and I only largely see the parliamentary building on TV and newspapers. I have only visited on occasions. So perhaps I shouldn’t be the one writing this but I keep my ear to the ground many times. You will forgive me for writing to you.
The office you now hold comes with great responsibilities but also with significant financial rewards. There aren’t many people who are given Shs315m to buy themselves a car and some more for clothing. A huge monthly salary and allowances await for five years. Deserving, we don’t want beggar honorables in our midst.
Once you shake off the hangover from the victory parties, you should look for somebody you trust who once served as MP and was defeated in an election. If they are kind enough, they will tell you of a colleague or two who run on hard times when they left the marble floored parliamentary building. Phone calls were no longer being answered. Woke up to doing nothing and they run broke. Trying to get a job was difficult. Not many people can hire a former MP.
They will tell you that they spent all their money on ungrateful constituents (you can ask Hon Yusuf Nsibambi or watch his image crushing video interviews after he lost). Yet unless you are a thief, you won’t be able to solve all your constituents’ problems. Even the government that levies taxes isn’t capable and that is probably one of the reasons you were elected. Remember, the promises of constructing roads, markets and bringing electricity to every household was just campaigning. You can only give as much personally.
If your constituency isn’t in Kampala, you may feel the peer pressure of buying a house in the city from which you will cruise to Parliament from Tuesday to Thursday. Decent houses in Kampala that befit your new status are expensive. Kampala real estate brokers are unforgiving. Remember the old saying: Kampala isn’t just highrise buildings.
If brokers are unforgiving, the lenders — formal or informal — don’t joke. They will lend you money while smiling. They will demand it with a mean face. I have seen a few MPs spend nights in Luzira after failing to pay debts. Borrow responsibly.
You may feel that your children now have to go to an expensive school. The school where they are now is just fine. You don’t have to bring your whole family to Kampala now.
Kampala’s buildings especially the malls or arcades or whatever they call themselves downtown have very beautiful young damsels. Muscular young men with well chiseled bodies exist too if you are a woman. Just note that they love money more than witchdoctors. And since you will be earning a lot, you will be within shooting range. They love smartphones, apartments in Kyanja, a compact SUV and trips to Dubai or at least Diani. Those things don’t come cheap. And remember, they don’t appreciate what you did yesterday. What they demand today is what matters.
The MP you defeated didn’t probably do anything wrong (Nsibambi claims he installed electricity, sunk boreholes and still lost). They probably did what was within their means and power. That is why you have seen some of the MPs who were defeated in 2021 being voted in again last week. The electorate are sometimes excited about the premise of something new or they simply voted your party. Don’t think that you are very special. If they voted the guy you are succeeding out, they can vote you out too. Many MPs, sometimes as many as 60% of the entire house, are voted out. It isn’t because they aren’t charismatic or didn’t go back to ‘check’ on the constituents regularly.
Having a budget will help you. You can decide a certain amount of money you can spend on the constituents every week or month. Once that amount of money is spent, the rest can wait for next month. There is no dead body that won’t be buried because you didn’t contribute some Shs50,000.
You can instruct your bank to save some money for you every month or send it to a unit trust or buy treasury bonds for you or get in other businesses. Imagine if you saved and invested just Shs10m every month for 60 months, you would have at least Shs600m by the end of your term. With that money growing at about 10% annually, you would have at least Shs748m according to some compound interest calculators. That is enough money to ensure you don’t call anyone to beg for a board position or job once defeated in 2031. In the meantime, enjoy your well earned new position.
The writer is a communication and visibility consultant. djjuuko@gmail.com
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