Parliament’s legal committee halts consideration of rationalisation Bills
The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee has halted the consideration of rationalisation Bills under its docket, after MPs discovered that the certificate of financial implication issued by the Ministry of Finance didn’t indicate the cost implication of abolishing or merging some agencies.
This followed a concern raised by Ibrahim Ssemujju, the MP for Kira Municipality who pointed out that although section 76 of the Public Finance Management Act 2015, stipulates that a certificate of financial implication must include the revenue estimates any bill would have on the economy, the certificates issued by the Ministry of Finance on rationalisation Bills did not indicate any cost implications, yet there will be need to compensate the affected staff.
“You see the framers of this law, even when you are winding down a parastatal, there will be costs, there are people you are compensating, there are domestic arrears to deal with, you simply can’t walk to Parliament and say there will be zero costs and tomorrow you present a budget, I mean, Parliament must be respected. The certificate before us is actually not a certificate under section 76 of the PFMA”, Ssemujju said.
However, Attorney General, Kiwanuka Kiryowa asked the Committee to make further consultations on the matter noting that he is not the author of the certificate of financial implication, and thus cannot quite answer the questions raised to him relating to the same.
“These questions must be raised to the Ministry of Finance, I will be happy to explain to you my part of the legal aspect and you can go on with the issue of Finance, then the Committee can go on with its own decision”, he said.
The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee has several constitutional amendment Bills and other bills for consideration during the rationalization process among which include the move to merge the Equal Opportunities Commission with the Uganda Human Rights Commission.
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