KAMPALA – Education Minister and First Lady Janet Museveni has apologized to Members Parliament for snubbing a Parliamentary sitting on Tuesday, February 18, saying she was misinformed by Clerk of Parliament.
“Please allow me to begin by informing this house that on Tuesday the 18th of February we were not able to be here because we already had information from the Clerk to Parliament that we were to be here today, Thursday the 20th of February,” she said adding that “we were confident that there was no problem until we learnt later that our presentation was on the order paper for Tuesday.”
“We regret any inconveniences this may have caused and please know that it was not intentional,” Mrs. Museveni who has been under fire for defying Parliament said.
Mrs. Museveni has however presented a statement explaining the new curriculum contrary to what MPs ordered her to do.
Parliament had instead directed the Education Minister to present a statement on the continued roll-out of the lower secondary school curriculum contrary to the parliamentary resolution of Tuesday, 04 February 2020 that halted its review and roll out pending further consultation and preparation of key stakeholders.
Parliament halted the plan to roll out the curriculum giving the Ministry of Education a week to present the statement.
The Opposition Chief Whip, Hon. Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda said that “according to the Rules of Procedure, you are supposed to present a statement on the continued roll-out of the lower secondary school curriculum contrary to the parliamentary resolution.”
Kadaga ruled that Mrs. Museveni should go ahead with the statement.
Mrs. Museveni said that when Parliament asked “us to halt the curriculum roll out on 4th February, as a Government Sector we could not change plan on our own without a Cabinet decision, Cabinet being the Policymaking organ of Government.
“You may recall that the Government through the Ministry of Education and Sports had planned to start the implementation and rollout of the reviewed lower secondary curriculum last Financial Year. However, this was postponed to January of 2020 in the current FY. The delayed implementation was partly due to financial constraints but also due to the need to make adequate preparations for the successful implementation.”
The statement she presented looked at the background to the curriculum review process, the objectives, new aspects, the justification and the benefits of the revised lower secondary curriculum; the implementation strategy for the new lower secondary curriculum and the Ministry’s responses to the questions MPs raised on 4th of February.
Hon Mathias Mpuuga quashed her submission.
He said that the education minister has presented a regurgitated statement but not an explanation on the resolution of Parliament that halted the implementation of the lower school curriculum.
The Speaker of Parliament ruled that the statement by the Minister was for information to Hon Michael Mawanda and that a seminar will be organised to provide more information as the roll out continues.