Deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah has ordered MPs to stop going for abroad trips in the name of benchmarking saying that the process has delayed several bills before committees.
Oulanyah said that many bills overstay in the committees on ground that the members of the committee are still benchmarking outside the country.
Oulanyah noted that if the members want to benchmark they should do it after the bill has been passed into law warning that parliament will follow the 128 section of its rule of procedure and debate the bill after 45 days with or without the report from the committee.
Oulanyah has also warned the members who are granted leave to present the private members bill not to exceed the 45 days on benchmarking, noting that they should do the benchmarking before seeking leave of parliament.
Hehas directed the clerk to parliament to immediately write to the chairperson of the committees where the bill is referred and notify him or her and write to the same chairperson three days before the 45 days lapses.
Recently, Speaker Rebecca Kadaga was concerned about the slow process of bills being scrutinized at committee level. She named and shamed committees that have taken more than the mandatory 45 days to process a bill. Currently, Parliament has handled about 10 bills.Other bills such as Succession Bill, Sexual Offense Bill and Marriage and Divorce Bill and others are still before committees.
