Min­is­ter Tumwe­baze to be sum­moned by Par­lia­ment over SIMs

Kampala, Uganda| PWATCH UG|  The Speaker of Par­lia­ment Re­becca Kadaga has vowed to com­mit ICT Min­is­ter Frank Tumwe­baze to the Rules Com­mit­tee for con­tempt over implementation of deadlines for SIM-Card reg­is­tra­tion.

Kadaga says that Uganda’s Ex­ec­u­tive has “dis­re­spected the voices of the peo­ple”, which is parliament. “This is un­ac­cept­able and can­not go un­chal­lenged,” she said.

“Ever since the is­sue of reg­is­tra­tion started, he has not had the cour­tesy to reach the House and to reach the coun­try…he has not even un­der­stood, not even to hear the dif­fi­cul­ties the peo­ple of this coun­try through their elected rep­re­sen­ta­tives,”said Kadaga after Tumwebaze announced that government would go ahead with the scheduled deadline of May 19 midnight to switch off unregistered or unverified SIM-cards.

#BREAKING: SIM CARD DEADLINE TONIGHT (details to follow) https://t.co/wIzk6yCdXp #SIMCardRegistration pic.twitter.com/GKMj2iwhHQ

— The Independent (@UGIndependent) May 19, 2017

“This was a sub­stan­tive mo­tion, it was on the or­der pa­per [and] if the Ex­ec­u­tive had any reser­va­tions on this mat­ter even af­ter the res­o­lu­tion was made, the min­is­ter should have had the cour­tesy of com­ing and pre­sent­ing a state­ment of ob­jec­tion to this House,” she said.

On Thurs­day, Par­lia­ment adopted a mo­tion pre­sented by the Leader of Op­po­si­tion Win­nie Ki­iza, to urge gov­ern­ment to ex­tend the dead­line of SIM-card reg­is­tra­tion to a pe­riod not more than one year.

READ FULL STORY HERE

Simcard registration: Minister Tumwebaze to be summoned by Parliament https://t.co/gBHGOM0vzO

— Parliament Watch (@pwatchug) May 19, 2017

Sim Card Press Release May 19th – Uganda Government by The Independent Magazine on Scribd