MPs tasked to expedite petitions

By Moses Walubiri & Joyce Namutebi

Deputy speaker of parliament, Jacob Oulanyah has ordered chairpersons of different committees of parliament to expedite petitions under their consideration.

He points out that concerns emerge about the high number of petitions stalled in both sectoral and standing committees.

Unlike previous parliaments, the ninth parliament, as part of Speaker Rebecca Kadaga’s ‘dream’ of making it “a people centered parliament”, has been saddled with all manner of petitions.

In fact, at one time this saw the leadership of parliament toy with the idea of creating a specific committee to handle them.

Discussing performance reports of different committees on Tuesday, it became apparent that many committees had failed to dispose of petitions a year down the road.

Parliamentary rules of procedure obligate committees to handle petitions within 45 days and submit reports to the House.

“Most people petition parliament as a last resort because they have failed to get redress from other organs of the state,” Alex Ndezi (MP for PWDs) said.

He added: “The public will lose faith in this parliament if it becomes apparent that their petitions take years to be handled.”

This forced deputy speaker Oulanyah to order committee chairpersons to “expeditiously handle petitions” in their respective committees.

Earlier, MP Mathias Mpuuga demanded an explanation as to why a petition by Masaka traders about the arbitrary imposition of trading license had been irregularly dropped by the Trade and Tourism Committee. 

Among the key petitions that the ninth parliament has handled include the one on operations of Pioneer Easy Bus and that of traders of St. Balikudembe market.