Recharging Batteries in Uganda Then Returning to Your Doorstep
Chiswick Gunnersbury councillor Ron Mushiso reports back
Cllr Ron Mushiso at the Chiswick Area Forum
July 29, 2023
There are challenges to being a public servant, firstly, you can never really switch off, there is always a report to read, an issue to raise, campaigns to attend or an event to organise.
Then comes the other stuff; picking up a casework on behalf of a concerned resident, working with officers to find a solution to a problem, liaising with the police and the Safer Neighbourhood teams etcetera. These are some of the things we do that often go unseen but the feeling of satisfaction when you have played small part in helping a family, or an individual is priceless.
So, how does one switch off and recharge their batteries? How about a short trip back to my village in Uganda? I have not been back since 2016, long before I was first elected to serve as a Councillor for Chiswick Gunnersbury.
Revisiting my ancestral land has always served as reminder of how much I owe my life to the good people of our community here in West London. I came to this country as a 12-year-old in 1993 barely able to string a sentence of English together. Just over a year after arriving, I was placed into the foster care system. It was indeed my foster parents whom, in 2002 encouraged me to return to Uganda for the first time. I was reluctant at first because of the trauma and loss that I had experienced growing up in my village. But time is great healer and returning as an adult enabled me to come to terms with my experiences and to be reconnected with my extended biological family.
I hope that going will allow me to reflect, on my life’s journey and the recent extraordinary events where I was selected to be the Conservative Candidate for the South West London seat at GLA for 2024. As result, it will not be long before I am back on the doorsteps campaigning to win your vote and become your voice in City Hall. For those who have been following closely, you will have read that our party has selected Susan Hall AM as our Mayoral candidate to go up against the current Mayor, Sadiq Khan.
In the next 9 months, I will be crisscrossing the entire London Borough of Hounslow, Richmond Upon Thames and the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames explaining how Susan and I will tackle the most pressing priorities; Crime, Housing and Transport.
Being selected as the GLA candidate for South West London is a huge honour. This where I was raised and educated. It is where I became a rugby player, a coach, a teacher, and a local Councillor. My ancestral village is in Uganda, but home will always be in South West London. I want our patch of London to succeed so that our next generation can also access the opportunities that I have had.
That is why we desperately need a new Mayor who can listen and engage with our communities. As a community we are full of talent, generosity, and ingenuity but politics seems to be tearing a dividing line between. I should not be this way. Residents have grown in frustration with TfL and the current Mayor and TfL phantom consultation processes that seems well intentioned at first glance but invariably end up ignoring the actual views and concerns. The most recent example was the ULEZ expansion consultation where over 60% voted against the ULEZ expansion in the official consultation and yet the expansion looks set to go ahead in August, following the judge’s ruling.
A new vision for London means coming to terms with the basic facts on traffic and transport. We know, for example, that there are pockets of high pollution across the borough. These are partly caused by vehicle traffic including the diesel fuelled TfL buses. These vehicles are idling in traffic because there are road closures and diversions all around them. Even ULEZ compliant vehicles, that are exempt from paying a charge, are still polluting our lungs. In fact, the air in the inner London zone is still far worse than the air quality in the outer boroughs, despite ULEZ.
That is why some people have concluded that the new expansion is just another tax by the current Mayor. Indeed, it will hit the pockets of those who are struggling to pay their bills, those who are struggling to budget for their weekly shop and those with small businesses who lack the funds to replace their vans. The correct alternative is that proposed by Susan Hall AM, who will scrap the expansion and instead target the traffic hotspots with a £50 million fund. This will give struggling families and businesses time to save for a new or compliant vehicle.
Politics is so much better when it is inclusive and pragmatic. If the Uxbridge by-election says anything about the views of Londoners, it is that Londoners are fed up with this Mayor’s the policy that seeks exclude, marginalise and ignore those with an opposing political view.Cllr Ron Mushiso
07976 702887
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES
Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the eight Conservative councillors take this surgery in turn).
Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Gunnersbury Triangle Club, Triangle Way, off The Ridgeway, W3 8LU (at least one of the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors takes this surgery).
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS and CONTACTS
Chiswick Gunnersbury (was Turnham Green) ward
Cllr Joanna Biddolph joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 703446
Cllr Ranjit Gill ranjit.gill@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702956
Cllr Ron Mushiso ron.mushiso@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702887
Chiswick Homefields ward
Cllr Jack Emsley jack.emsley@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 396017
Cllr Gerald McGregor gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784821
Cllr John Todd john.todd@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784651
Chiswick Riverside ward
Cllr Peter Thompson peter.thompson@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 395810
Cllr Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823
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