KAMPALA – Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has warned government against presenting to Parliament half-baked draft bills saying the action has derailed the works of the August House and called on Ministries to consult with the public before tabling the bills on the floor.
Ms. Kadaga made the remarks today during the State of Nation address at Kampala Serena Hotel in which she expressed displeasure at failure of Government to harmonise on the Kampala Capital City Authority Bill, saying the debacle would have been solved had government made consultations with the stakeholders.
The Speaker announced that the 10th Parliament registered tremendous growth in the 3rd session attributing the improvements to realignment of parliament program as well as improved attendance of committees and plenary by MPs noting that in the session, 26bills were enacted compared to 11 bills and 16 bills enacted in the first and second session respectively.
However, four bills were withdrawn were withdrawn saying; “I want to express my disappointment that a number of areas, there was an obvious manifestation of lack of adequate preparedness and consultation of stake holders and this wasted a lot of Parliament’s time. I am particularly disturbed by failure by Government to the process beyond the second reading the Kampala Capital City Authority Amendment Bill since 2015.”
She cautioned; “In future bills requiring Parliament consideration should be adequately researched upon and stakeholder involved by various ministries before cabinet approval and subsequent submission to Parliament.”
During the session, Parliament handled 16 loan requests, 23 resolutions, 208 questions responded to, 51 ministerial policy statement, 45 committee reports and 11MPs made statements.
The Speaker also announced that since the MPs are gearing up for the 2021 elections, their concentration on legislative duties will be limited and she asked Government to table all business it deems important within the first two months.
Kadaga also asked the Executive to respect the Supreme Court ruling and have electoral reforms tabled early enough to allow the Electoral Commission budget and prepare for elections saying that Parliament shouldn’t be made to fire fight and stampede in order to engage in enacting electoral reforms.