Dress properly – Eastern Equatoria MPs told
The Speaker of Eastern Equatoria State Reconstituted Legislative Assembly, Maira Janu, has warned the members of parliament against indecent dressing during parliamentary sittings.
This comes after the speaker realised that most lawmakers did not follow the dressing code during their first sitting on Monday.
Maira urged the members to take the dressing style seriously to gain respect from the public and their fellow members.
“Most of you are dressing indecently. It is not good when you come in your shaking clothes. That cannot represent the will of the people because when you are coming here; you are honourable members. When you are an honourable member, you also need to be honourable also in respect,” he said.
Article 196 of the state assembly regulations state that all members shall dress in a dignified manner.
“You need to be somebody when you walk down the way, then people will know that you are an honourable member,” Maira stated.
The speaker instructed the male MPs to put on shoes and neckties.
“Today you are coming without a tie and coats. You are permitted because this is the first sitting, but next time when you are coming anyhow like that (sic), it will not be me to let you out because we shall now order the police to let you go until you dress in a dignified manner, then you can come to the assembly,” he said.
In reply to the statement of the speaker, Peter Otim Karlo, Member of Parliament representing Magwi Constituency, told The City Review, “First of all, you cannot put me in that category, I am a very powerful MP who is always 100 per cent smart, so you are asking me to be smart again? I am smart from my feet up to my head. “
Otim said the MPs were waiting for the wardrobe allowance to allow them to buy clothes to appear decently during parliament proceedings.
He called on the government to provide them with the money.
“The new MPs are waiting for outfits; you know, outfits are our system of dressing. There must be money available for buying suits, shoes, and everything neckties.
“This is what we are waiting for. “You come in the way you have been dressing, but when you come now to parliament, you enter in, they must give you money to dress like an honourable member of parliament,” Otim said.
