Parliament shall next week sit to debate on the Constitution (amendment) bill, 2019. Speaker Rebecca Kadaga deferred the debate until next week to allow MPs access the report of the committee and internalize it.
The House on Wednesday had moved to debate the report of the Committee on Legal & Parliamentary Affairs on the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Speaker also ruled that members go ahead with debate and the issue of quorum which had been raised by Hon. Betty Awol would be considered at voting on 2nd and 3rd reading.
However, she later deferred it as most members needed to access and internalize the committee report after complaining that their iPads were not functioning due to the Internet shutdown.
Moved by Wilfred Niwagaba the Shadow Attorney General, the Bill seeks to scrap the representation of the army in Parliament, repeal of the Office of Prime Minister and Vice President, reinstate presidential term limits and prohibit the appointment of Ministers from MPs among other things.
On Tuesday, Jacob Oboth-Oboth the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee Chairperson presented a report about the Bill and the Minority report authored by Hon. Medard Sseggona the Busiro East MP. Legislators were on Wednesday scheduled to debate the Bill after Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s guidance.
The debate had commenced when the Kalungu West MP Joseph Ssewungu raised a complaint of inactive iPads and their failure to receive copies of the Committee report to guide debate.
While, the speaker wondered why the iPads were not functioning since internet had been restored fully, she agreed with the legislator, when several others supported his complaint.
Kadaga therefore deferred the debate to Tuesday next week to enable all MPs access the report.
The Bill proposes to scrap the representation of the army in Parliament, repeal of the Office of Prime Minister and Vice President, appointment of Chairperson and Commissioners of the Electoral Commission by Judicial Service Commission, repealing Office of Resident District Commissioners; making all Ministers Ex-officios, reducing the size of Cabinet to about 40 Ministers (21 Cabinet Ministers and 21 State Ministers), introducing the Speakers' panel in Parliament and others.
