Next time you enter an agreement with an honourable Member of Parliament in Uganda, you should seek extra guarantees apart from his signature.

For signatures mean nothing to our MPs. In fact, the issue is affecting the public’s view of Speaker Rebecca Kadaga, until recently seen as a rising star by many citizens and foreigners who thought of her as Uganda’s first woman president in the making.

Just over a month ago, Kadaga’s star was shining at its brightest after she said she would recall parliament from recess if petitioners who wanted it raised the requisite number of signatures, 125 out of the total 375 members of the House.

The substance of the petition wasn’t much, to do with the president allegedly calling some MPs idiots, but the act of recalling the House was quite significant.

Everybody knew that President Yoweri Museveni was livid about the House recall, so Kadaga was seen as standing up to the executive to assert the authority and stature of parliament.

But when the Speaker’s office received and acknowledged the over 125 signatures demanding a recall, some members who had signed wrote to her saying they had had a change of mind, and wanted to withdraw their signatures. And the Speaker accepted. The recall motion was dead in the water.

Then a week or so ago, Kadaga was in the chair when someone pointed out that there was no quorum. The Ugandan parliament has some 375 members, and for a plenary session to take place, at least 125 members must be in attendance.

The speaker usually enters the august chamber after being notified that the minimum required number have reported, judging from the signatures signifying attendance.

But it seems the real reason MPs sign the register is to secure their allowances and has little to do with attending the sittings. On that occasion, though there were less than a 100 members in the chamber, over 300 had signed! The implication is that we have been paying MPs in full for doing a third or less of their work — since payment is done against their signatures.

And therein lies Kadaga’s signature dilemma. After disallowing a signed petition, or allowing the withdrawal of signatures, she now has to accept “air” signatures against which billions of shillings have to be paid. If you think any Ugandan MP will be made to refund the millions they have been fraudulently collecting in this way, you can dream.

No wonder the Bank of Uganda realised the weightlessness of signatures in our country and a couple of years back outlawed all cheques worth twenty million shillings (about $8,000) and above so payments of that magnitude can only be settled by electronic transfer or hard cash.

The speaker must be feeling like my high school headmaster felt many years ago when we staged a strike and that night, some talented boys accurately “signed” all the walls in the school with the headmaster’s signature using red chalk.

Overnight, that powerful signature was demystified. Our MPs have done the same to the signature concept. Maybe it is about time.

In the age of biometrics, passwords and voice recognition equipment, who needs signature anymore?

Joachim Buwembo is a Knight International fellow for development journalism. E-mail: [email protected]