The Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has expressed concern over delays in the tabling of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Sugar and National Pension Scheme bills.
Oulanyah who chaired the Thursday’s House’s sitting said that Parliamentary committees responsible for tabling the three bills have exhibited laziness of the highest level which has lead to waste of time in the Parliament.
He cautioned them and said Parliament will go ahead and pass them if they are not willing to work within the time schedule.
“For some bills, we will proceed and process them. If committees delay, we will have problems with waiting,” he said.
The Kampala Capital City Authority Bill 2015 was once tabled before the Parliament, however, it met resistance from the opposition due to controversial clauses that seek to make the Minister the head of Kampala and limit powers of the Lord Mayor.
The Presidential Affairs committee headed by Adjumani Woman Member of Parliament Jesca Ababiku also recommended that the title political head be scrapped off from the KCCA act, which was also rejected by the opposition.
State Minister for Kampala Benny Namugwanya proposed for further consultations. “Issues which were raised are constitutional matters which cannot be negotiated especially on the rights of the people to choose their leaders so we need further consultation,” Namugwanya said.
According to Ababiku, the bill has been delayed by the ongoing consultations by both the opposition and Government.
For the case of the Sugar, it was passed earlier this year and Parliament had lifted the zoning policy to create an open market for sugarcane growers to sell their cane to willing buyers anywhere in the country.
However, on March 1, President Yoweri Museveni wrote to the Speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga, rejecting the passed bill.
In his letter, he said, “It is a big mistake to destroy our sugar industry in favour of small parasite newcomers and undermine the big historical actors; Kakira, Lugazi and Kinyara.”
The National Pension Scheme bill was also withdrawn because the government feared the issue of duplicating document and other issues in the bill law required to restructure the pension sector. Currently, no updates on the three bills have been communicated to the Parliament.
However, in his last decision on Thursday, Oulanyah gave the responsible committees an ultimatum of two weeks for the government to table amendments of the bills in question.
“I call on all committees responsible to give statuses on pending bills especially those that have overstayed on the order paper, and you have only two weeks to do that,” said Oulanyah.
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