Parliamentary attendance is alarmingly low. At this time when elections are around the corner, it is not a surprise to many due to the fact that almost all Members of Parliament (MPs) are ‘expected’ to be combing corners of their constituencies laying early strategies and traps trying to please the electorates that they deserve another term in office come 2016 general elections.
This picture was taken recently during one of the days when there was low turn up of MPs in the House. (Photo by Daily Monitor)
As a result, attendance of plenary sessions comes to its worst during this time. The August House becomes a deserted place by the majority members from the opposition, ruling government and the executive (Ministers). Presence of Parliament staff and Journalists ends up outweighing the number of MPs in the August House building in the long run.
Images by journalists covering parliament showing less than 50 MPs present during the plenary sessions, become more common than actually the coverage of the actual parliament business in the house. The direct effect, is that concentration turns away from the order of business in the business to debates on quorum from the corridors of parliament, to media houses and social media by journalists and concerned citizens.
The Trade Licensing (Amendment) Bill 2012 yesterday (10th March), had hit yet another snag at the beginning of the plenary session because only 25 MPs were present and thus could not be debated nor passed. Further more, Mukono Municipality MP Hon Betty Nambooze objected to the Deputy Speaker of Parliament Rt. Hon. Jacob Oulanyah and ascertained if the house was in order to debate and approve the US$ 100M loan parliament was seeking.
Cries by the Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo to the Rt. Hon. Speaker compelling him to inform ministers already in the building to come to the plenary session, were in vain. As i speak now, Moses Muhumuza, a concerned citizen is suing Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) alongside the Attorney General challenging the manner in which $175 million (about Shs400 billion) was recently passed by Parliament without quorum of one-third needed.
The implication of the above, means that if the money is annulled, another legislation or parliamentary business, will be kicked out just because parliament did not follow the right procedure as it lacked the required quorum to do so. On 1st August last year, the Constitutional Court annulled the anti-gays law that has been signed into law in February, 2014. It ruled the Bill was passed by MPs without the requisite quorum and was therefore illegal.
This is however a sad development. When there is less quality of debates in the house, the laws which end up being passed ‘successfully’ jump the proper analysis criteria. Important and potentially contradicting clauses are not given enough room for debate when it comes to weighing the prospective effects resulting directly from such clauses.
Consequently, avalanches of constitutional petitions later become the new order of constitutional business later on leading to heavy sanctions of punishments in form of legal fees and bouncing back of laws on top of which, tax payers pay the price i.e. more facilitation of MPs when bills are being debated again yet such time would have been spent debating on other issues at hand.
Article 88 (1-3) of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and Rule 23 of the Parliamentary Rules of Procedure are to the effect that the quorum of the parliament shall be one-third of all members of parliament entitled to vote and must be followed every time parliament is voting on a question or motion in the house. In other words, it is mandatory and obligatory procedure meant to be followed without exception.
According to the official website of our Parliament, Uganda has a total of 385 MPs. 238 Constituency Representatives, 112 District Woman Representatives, 10 Uganda People’s Defence Forces Representatives, 5 Representatives of the Youth, 5 Representatives of Persons with Disabilities, 5 Representatives of Workers and 13 Ex-officio Members.
Of the 385 in total, the ruling government NRM has 259 MPs, the leading opposition party, FDC has 36 MPs, UPC 10, JEEMA 1 and CP 1. the quorum therefore is that of the total 385 MPs, a minimum of 128 MPs regardless of the party or representation, are needed to vote on any question in the house.
This is such a low number when compared to the total number of parliamentarians. It is thus disturbing why only 25 of the required 128 MPs can turn up for a plenary session. Further more it is also questionable why actually parliament can pass laws and conduct business without raising the issue of quorum to the Rt. Hon. Speaker because how representative is the house when only 25 members are present?
Uganda has a population of over 36 million people. Obviously, we cannot all go the parliament to represent ourselves. That is why every after five years, we elect representatives to air out our cries by representing, working, protecting and fulfilling our development goals in terms of interests and aspirations. However if only 25 members of parliament show up one automatically queries how seriously our elected representatives are taking their representative role, and where is the voice of millions of Ugandans if more than three quarters fail to show up to the house?
Importantly, the consequences and questions of absence of quorum, are if parliament is going to finish up its business before the end of their 9th term. The 9th parliament ends by May next year (2016). Roughly, it is less than 10 months before the current parliament is dissolved and get possibly new representatives. Parliament goes into recess, has trips for MPs and operates mostly in the afternoon. In a month, it is safe to say that it operates less than roughly 15 working days.
Bills which are still pending in parliament include: The Tobacco Control Bill 2014, The Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Substances (Control) Bill, Public Private Partnerships Bill, Public Finance Bill, 2012, The Retirement Benefits Sector Liberalisation Bill 2010, Anti Corruption (Amendment) Bill and The National Biotechnology and Biosafety Bill 2012. Further more, the national budget for the Financial Year 2015/2016 is yet to be tabled.
From the above revelation, it will not be a surprise for the current parliament to dissolve when it has unfinished business. The most bills currently before parliament are technical and thus need a lot of consultations and engagements between the honourable MPs, government together with the private sector. Therefore, a lot of effort needs to be added by our representatives in the parliament today.
Conclusively, the current 9th parliament began on a very good note. It has passed over ten bills most of which have been assented to by the president for example The Industrial Properties Act, Anti-Money Laundering Act among others. It has been lively when it came to matters of graft, scandals and corruption notable among others were the Kabakumba saga, oil debate and constant throwing out of Ministers with inconsistent figures in their budgets.
But however, a lot needs to be seen done now that the sun is almost setting down on the current parliament. More attendance and debates need to be seen and witnessed. It is the first way to win confidence from the electorates who will determine if they still see value in their representatives or not.
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