The Minister of State for Lands Persis Namuganza supported the move to increase the parliament term saying that most of the MPs wanted it as well but were afraid to speak out.
PAC has raised several queries on the Peace and Security for Systems Resilience Project which is a multi sectoral project through which the UNDP channeled $767,000 to several agencies in 2017.
The chairperson of the committee Budadiri West MP Nathan Nandala Mafabi expressed alarm at the extremely long queues at the immigration control offices on Port Bell road. Bagonza explained that the queues are a result of recruitment companies engaged in the externalization of labour that decide to pay for emergency passport processing which means that the applicants have to show up immediately at the immigration offices.
The legal Committee of Parliament has rejected a proposal to have the Deputy Governor Bank of Uganda (BoU) serve for a maximum two terms of 10 years while the Governor’s term is unlimited.
Following an audit the 508.6bn pension and gratuity arrears had been cut down to Shilings188.4bn, this raised eyebrows among MPs on the committee. Nandala Mafabi demanded to know how the 508bn shillings had been arrived at initially and accused the ministry of creating ‘ghost’ pensioners to steal public funds.
In Australia, at the commencement of every Parliament, the Speaker nominates a panel of not less than four members to assist. Generally, the Speaker appoints both opposition and government members to the Speaker’s panel, with government members being in the majority.
On the other hand, Kenya’s Constitution under Article 107 (1) (c) provides other persons who can preside over the House other than the Speaker or Deputy Speaker. The Article provides that in the absence of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker, another member of the House elected by the House presides.
Latif Ssebaggala, the Kawempe North MP said that while addressing the country two weeks ago, President Museveni admitted that the missing Ugandans were in the hands of security agencies and that their names will be released to the public.
Members of Parliament have called for wider consultations on the proposal to extend the term of Members of Parliament and the Presidency from the current five years to seven years.
The Early Childhood Development Association led by president Manuela Mulondo met Kadaga in a bid to request her to pressure the government to reconsider this decision.
On Tuesday, Kamuntu asked Parliament to halt debate on the bill to allow the government to constitute a Constitutional Review Commission to handle the proposals in the bill and others that may arise. He also noted that the proposed amendments were many as they affect many entities, arguing that considering them would tantamount to overhauling Uganda's Supreme law.
The Committee also learnt that the contracts of the remaining two Deputies are also close to expiry. According to Minister Lokodo, the contract of Deputy IGG George Bamugemereire expires in two weeks while that of Mariam Wangandya expires in four months.
Audit documents before PAC indicate that out of the 20.74 Billion Shillings, indicate that 16.88 Billion was spent by the Judiciary on different activities some of which were disposing of cases in different courts, installing new courts, training of staff, procuring vehicles and others.
This was during a Monday meeting with officials from the Judiciary led by the Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana. The team had appeared before the committee to respond to the Auditor General’s report for the financial year 2018/2019.
The Judiciary Permanent Secretary Pius Bigirimana today told Parliament that the nine billion Shillings system also known as the Electronic Court Case Management Information System (ECMIS), is expected to help quicken filing of cases, track them throughout the trial and provide progress updates to relevant players.
Legislators on the committee expressed concern over unspent funds meant for pensions in the Education Ministry totaling to Shillings 5.8bn which were swept back to the consolidated fund. The committee chairperson Nandala Mafabi raised a suspicion that the funds could have been budgeted for 'ghost' beneficiaries.
UWOPA, established during the 5th Parliament (1989-1994) is a caucus comprising of female Members of Parliament but also open to male members as associates or horary members. It aims at engendering the legislative process, creating awareness campaigns and encouraging lobbying and advocacy.
Currently, the 10th Parliament has a total of 152 female MPs of while 20 are on direct seats. The 11th Parliament set to open in May, 2021 will have a total of 173 female MPs out of a population of 529 legislators. These include District Woman MPs, directly elected women and others.
Rukutana told Members of Parliament on Wednesday during plenary chaired by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga that the fee which will be levied through the recruitment companies will create non-tax revenue that will be appropriated by parliament to the Gender ministry to improve labour migration management.
