MP Lulume Bayiga Wants Speaker Of Parliament To Allocate MPs More Debating Time

Buikwe South Legislator Dr Lulume Bayiga has led other Legislators proposing to have the time allocated to Members of Parliament  to debate in plenary, increased from two minutes to Five to seven minutes, arguing that the current time allocated is too little for legislators to make research and debate authoritatively.

The proposal was made by Charles Onen (Laroo-Pece Division) during the meeting held by Parliament's Rules Committee to review the Rules and Procedure of Parliament, where he was reacting to a proposal by Lulume Bayiga (Buikwe South) to have the Presiding Officer to allocate time to MPs from all political parties represented in Parliament to contribute to debates in the House. 

Dr Lulume’s proposal was seconded by Peter Okot (Toochi County) and Nicholas Kamara (Kabale Municipality), where he proposed to amend Rule 70, Time and Manner of Speaking, by substituting sub-rule 70 (1)(c) to read; The Presiding Officer during any sitting shall ensure that each Party represented in Parliament is allocated time to debate on each motion or House business under consideration in Parliament.

According to Lulume, the amendment will ensure equitable allocation of time and business space on the order paper, strengthen MPs in their participation in the House and their respective Party, caucuses or Parliamentary Business for better quality of debate.

However, Onen argued that their proposal fell short of clarifying on what time should be allocated to MPs to debate on matters during plenary.

Alex Ndeezi (PWD Rep. Central Region) wondered how Political Parties like JEEMA and People’s progressive Party that each have one MP currently in Parliament will be handled in case on any given day, the said MPs aren’t in attendance.

 “I have an issue with this amendment, it says the Presiding Officer shall ensure that each Party in Parliament is allocated time to debate on each motion. I want to remind you that there is a Party that has one MP, that means that Party must be allocated time to debate on each motion so what is the MP isn’t around? So I have a problem with this proposal?” noted Ndeezi.

However, National Resistance Movement spokesperson Emmanuel Dombo says that time allocated to an MP to debate should be left at the discretion of the Speaker, depending on the importance of the subject and the depth of the submission.