The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Anita Among has directed House Committee Chairpersons who have not processed Bills within the stipulated 45 days to finalize their work before the 10th February.
A Bill is a proposal tabled before Parliament for a new piece of law or a proposal to amend an existing law.
Under the Parliament Rules of Procedure, after the Bill is tabled and read for the first time, the responsible committee to which it is referred is given a time frame of only 45 days for scrutiny and report back to the House. Chairpersons of Committees are also under the Rules of Procedure allowed to seek for extension of the allotted time.
Now, in her communication to legislators during the Wednesday sitting, Deputy Speaker Among said that out of 9 Bills sent to different committees for scrutiny, 7 of them are due to be reported about but their reports are not yet tabled.
The Bills she named include the Mining and Minerals Bill, the Fisheries Bill, the Market Bill, Succession Bill, Physical Planner’s Registration Bill, Supplementary Bill Schedule Number 2 and 3, 2021.
Among gave the Committee leadership up to 10th this Month to represent reports about the different Bills.
Among also reminded the Cabinet Ministers to ensure that they table the Ministerial Policy Statements for next financial year 2022/2023, the Annual budget and Tax bills in the stipulated time to ease parliament’s work.
Robert Migadde, the Vice Chairperson of the National Economy committee attributed the delays in presentation of committee reports to inadequate funding to facilitate field visits. He asked parliament to look into the matters.
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