The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Parliament is divided over the proposal to name the Institute of Parliamentary Studies after the Speaker, Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga. In a plenary session on Tuesday evening chaired by Kadaga, the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee advised that the bill be passed without renaming the bill, which drew controversy among legislators.
On May 29th, parliament passed resolved to change the title of the Institute of Parliamentary Studies Bill to Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga Institute of Parliamentary Studies Bill, 2019. The object of the Bill is to establish the Institute of Parliamentary Studies as a one stop specialized resource center for training and capacity development of legislators, staff of parliament, local councils and other Legislatures within the region.
It is also meant to create an institutional mechanism for delivery of capacity building interventions for Members and staff of Parliament as well as stakeholders and create a formal framework of engagement between Parliament and Local Councils throughout the country.
However, the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs committee is hesitant to rename the bill to include Kadaga’s name. Eragu Veronica Bichetero, the Kaberamaido County MP who presented the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee report, said it is the considered opinion of the committee that the Bill be passed as it is without renaming it.
She said the Parliamentary Commission will rename the Institute administratively to reflect the motion that was adopted by the House. Eragu noted without giving details that although the report hasn’t been amended, the position has since changed.
David Abala, the Ngora County MP objected to the committee report, saying the institute should be renamed Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga looking at what the Speaker has done for the country. He says this should be the key matter in the bill.
Kadaga adjourned the house saying she will think about the type of institute they are establishing so that a clear direction is known.
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Because they suffer from acute inferiority complex, it is dictators who love to be idolized and fossilize themselves in monuments, public square and markets, building/institutions in heir life time. Fortunately when another regime enters office, such idols and monuments and/or plaques are pulled down.
E.g., Lenin’s and Stalin and Saddam’s Idols were violently pulled down. And when Mr. Museveni is finally replaced, his idol (hubris) at the entrance of the Kabamba Military Academy/College (Barracks) will be violently pulled down.
But why Kadaga and not Wapakhabulo? Preferably, why not the name the damned thing after the First post independence (1962) Speaker of Parliament, Mr. Narendra M. Patel?
That will make more historical sense than Kadaga, whose terms of tenure was not that clean, especially after allowing the SFC to enter the parliamentary chamber and brutalized MPs.