Parliament-Watch-Bulletin_Mid-Term-Audit-2014

Recommendations

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A Mid Term Citizens’ Assessment of the 9th ParliamentUpholdinghuman rightsstandards by parliament. Establish a human rightscommittee of parliament. Make resolutions and directivesbased on the Uganda HumanRights Commission reportsStringent actions on human rightsviolators Amend Constitution and otherexisting laws to strengthen themechanism for bringing HumanRights perpetrators of humanrights abuse and violations, Sanction respective ministersand heads of leading offendinginstitutions to explain andaddress the reported humanrights violationsPeace & transitional justice Pass resolutions to approvenational peace and reconciliationpolicy and make legislations ontransitional justice to address HRabuses,Findings: A Human Rights Checklist adoptedin 2013 for Parliament to follow asa guide in order to uphold humanrights standards and principles inthe passing of laws. A standing Human RightsCommittee was established and inplace for the first time, under the 9 thparliament. Motion to introduce a privatemembers bill on Law Revision(Penalties in criminal matters)Miscellaneous Amendment Bill,2013 The National Council for Disability(amendment) Act 2013 passed Transfer of Convicted Offenders ActpassedFindings: Two Acts passed i.e. the Preventionand Prohibition of Torture bill,2010, and the Anti-Human TrafficAct 2013 Two reports discussed i.e. Report onthe Petition of Ugandan women whowere taken to work in Iraq, andreport on the Petition of traffickingof women and sexual slavery inUnited Arab Emirates, India andChinaFindings: Motions on compensation andresettlement of the women affectedby the proposed government planfor the construction of the oilrefinery in Buseruka Hoima, as wellas one on the plight of the formerlyGOOD The 9 th parliament highlycontradicted its self byimmediately passing the highlycontroversial Public OrderManagement Act one monthafter developing the HumanRights Check list. The 9 th Parliament has beenseen to pass some bills whichdirectly and indirectly inhibitfundamental rights andfreedoms of the citizens; covertlaws like the AntihomosexualityAct and theAnti-pornography Act thatcould be used by the regime toinitiate tramped up chargesagainst its opponents.GOOD Marriage and Divorce Billshelved after heateddiscussions leaving room forkey human rights issues likesexual and domestic violenceMODERATEto go unabated NGO Amendment Act 2006that potentially impedesoperations of NGOs still inforce Inadequate monitoring ofimplementation of laws likethe Prevention andProhibition of Torture Bill2010 No evidence of the Lawpassed on mandatorytransitional justice. No evidence of approvedpolicy to guide theimplementation of transitional The 9 th Parliament shouldreview all the unconstitutionallaws on compliance with theNational Constitution, andapply the human rightschecklist.ie RepealsectionsOrder(POMA)the unconstitutionalof the the PublicManagement Act Review the sections in thePenal Code (as identified inthis report) to harmonize itscurrent controversial andobsolete legal provisions withthe National constitution Act on the reports of UHRCand increase their budget. Review the NGO AmendmentAct 2006, to harmonize it withthe NGO Policy theconstitution Support and facilitateMinistry of Justice andConstitutional Affairs tohandle matters oftransitional justice. Pass a parliamentary26UGMP September 2014
A Mid Term Citizens’ Assessment of the 9th Parliament Increase budget of ministry ofjustice to paycompensation/reparations to pastvictims or survivors of humanrights abuses.abducted children and personsaffected by the Lord’s ResistanceArmy Questions raised on governmentcompensation plans for the people ofTeso for their animals’ stolenDuring the UPA and Kony wars,and on victims of the revolutionaryfreedom fighters of Uganda 1971 –1985 Masindi Portjustice. resolution directinggovernment to initiate a lawand policy on transitionaljustice.1. The field findings from the studied populations reveal that only 47.7% of the respondents felt that the freedom to associate, assembly, opinions and movement hadimproved while 56.1% disagreed.2. In addition, only 26% of the respondents felt that the 9 th parliament had done enough to address the reported difficulties faced by the citizen organizations likearrests, harassment and intimidation as they performed their duties while 37% of the respondents felt otherwise3. Overall, only 8.60% of the studied population was satisfied with the performance of the 9 th Parliament towards standard six, this is illustrated by figure 9 below.Standard 7: Decisively check executive excesses and tackle the financial indiscipline of the executive in public interestConstitutional & other Legalobligations of the institution ofParliament The 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides that all public resources shall be held in trust for the people. Allpersons in positions of leadership and responsibility shall, in their work, be answerable to the people. All lawful measuresshall be taken to expose, combat and eradicate corruption and abuse or misuse of power by those holding political andother public offices. Parliament of Uganda plays a very important role in matters of management and control of PublicFinances. The budget and expenditure of public funds by the National Government is subject to authorization, approval and controlby the Parliament. This role is always played through the different committees that are set up in parliament. These includeStanding committees and session committees. The committees are given various roles including reviewing for purposes ofapproval of reports from government departments and ministries like the Uganda Human Rights Commission, UgandaPolice Force, Uganda Peoples Defence Forces, Uganda Revenue Authority, Public ServiceCitizens’ anticipated actions fromthe 9 th Parliament According to Article 90 (4) of the Constitution; in the exercise of their functions committees of Parliament—among otherduties may call any Minister or any person holding public office and private individuals to submit memoranda or appearbefore them to giveKey findings of specific actions takenby the 9 th ParliamentScores Gaps RecommendationsUGMP September 201427
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