{"id":36916,"date":"2025-06-23T07:54:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T05:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onecitizendaily.com\/?p=36916"},"modified":"2025-06-23T07:54:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T05:54:25","slug":"rickshaws-to-luxury-rides-a-rainy-day-lesson-for-the-honorable-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/23\/rickshaws-to-luxury-rides-a-rainy-day-lesson-for-the-honorable-house\/","title":{"rendered":"Rickshaws to luxury rides: A rainy-day lesson for the Honorable House"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Isaac Chol Aguer<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a country where some cross puddles without their shoes getting wet, while others stack errands like unpaid debts, came the unusual sight of Hon. Bataria Minror arriving at the gates of the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly in a modest Rickshaw, a black plastic bag shielding her from the relentless rain.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The moment wasn\u2019t humiliating \u2014 it was revealing. Not of the MP\u2019s hardship, but of a system where \u2014 as Bataria Minror herself claimed in her livestream \u2014 a vegetable-laden Rickshaw headed for the Speaker\u2019s kitchen is waved through the gates, while one carrying an MP under heavy rain is turned away.<\/p>\n

But the question wasn\u2019t for the guards. It was for the MP herself:
\nWhat exactly were you protesting, Madam? Was it about being left out of the list of those driving V8s like your fellow MPs? Or was it a principled stand \u2014 that parliament should welcome Rickshaws, just as it should remain open to the real concerns of ordinary people walking in the same rain?<\/p>\n

If it\u2019s about personal perks, that\u2019s one thing.
\nIf it\u2019s about principle, that\u2019s another story.<\/p>\n

History reminds us that when countries face hard times, it is parliaments that lead by example. In Argentina 2001, when the economy crumbled, MPs froze their own benefits, suspended raises, and passed emergency laws to stop financial collapse.
\nIn Italy 2011, amid the Euro crisis, parliamentarians cut their own pay, halted new official V8 purchases, and passed a recovery package to stabilize the country.<\/p>\n

And here, in South Sudan, citizens walk from Guri to Juba without salaries, without Rickshaws, without anyone to ask about them. Meanwhile, parliament is mentioned only when a black plastic bag appears on Facebook Live.<\/p>\n

It would have meant so much if, stepping out of that Rickshaw, the Hon. Bataria Minror had announced:
\n“Next session, I\u2019ll propose MPs contribute a share of our allowances to pay overdue salaries, equip hospitals, and postpone any new V8 purchases until people\u2019s conditions improve.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Then, that plastic bag would have been a national badge.<\/p>\n

But reducing it to a personal livestream, forgetting those with neither Rickshaws nor live broadcasts\u2026 is a picture of a reality we must all quietly acknowledge.<\/p>\n

The Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly can be a shelter for its people or a marketplace for privileges.<\/p>\n

And history only remembers those who stood for the people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Isaac Chol Aguer In a country where some cross puddles without their shoes getting wet, while others stack errands like unpaid debts, came the unusual sight of Hon. Bataria Minror arriving at the gates of the Revitalized Transitional National Legislative Assembly in a modest Rickshaw, a black plastic bag[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":36845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-oped","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Isaac-Aguer-1-3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36916"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36917,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36916\/revisions\/36917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}