Kampala — The opposition has rejected the assessment by the African Leadership Institute (AFLI) on the performance of Members of Parliament.

"We reject this scorecard because its intention is clear," said Prof. Morris Ogenga Latigo, the leader of opposition in Parliament.

He said the scorecard was becoming a propaganda tool of those against performing opposition MPs.

"The list of those called achievers are people we do not know in Parliament even when we have lived with them for the last five years," Latigo, who is also Agago MP, told journalists at his office at Parliament Buildings in Kampala.

AFLI yesterday released its third scorecard, with NRM MPs scoring highly in performance in plenary, committees of Parliament and in constituencies.The assessment showed that independent MPs performed better than those in the NRM and opposition.

The institute assessed the MPs on attendance, influence, attendance of district council meetings and accessibility to voters by telephone. Latigo wondered how the institute assessed his attendance since he does not sit on any committee. He also said he had not signed the attendance book for more than three years.

Latigo wondered why Odonga Otto (FDC) and himself were rated poor performers, arguing that on many occasions, they were at the forefront during debate on many Bills in the House.

He also questioned the rationale of assessing performance of MPs in the constituency basing on the constituency development fund, which is only sh10m. Latigo said his constituency, Agago county, got three trading centres last year and that they were all connected to electricity.

He added that all roads in the area had been taken over by the Government. "There are many NGOs and I have an 'F' for the constituency. What are you reflecting?" he mused. "

Latigo argued that attendance of district councils should not be an important criterion, saying there was no legal basis for MPs to attend or not. He said the core work of Parliament was legislation and oversight.

On influence of MPs, he remarked: "What do you mean by influence in Parliament? I have influence in Parliament, but look at my score."