The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee has halted the consideration of rationalization bills under its docket, after Members of Parliament discovered that the certificate of financial implication issued by the Ministry of Finance did not indicate the cost implication of abolishing or merging some agencies.

This followed a concern raised by Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda (Kira Municipality) who pointed out that although section 76 of the Public Finance Management Act 2015, stipulates that a certificate of financial implication must include the revenue estimates any bill would have on the economy, but the certificates issued by the Ministry of Finance on rationalisation bills didn’t indicate any cost implications, yet there will be need to compensate the affected staff.

Ssemujju remarked, “You see the framers of this law, even when you are winding down a parastatal, there will be costs, there are people you are compensating, there are domestic arrears to deal with, you simply can’t walk to Parliament and say there will be zero costs and tomorrow you present a budget, I mean, Parliament must be respected. The certificate before us is actually not a certificate under section 76 of the PFMA.”

Attorney General Kiwanuka Kiryowa asked the Committee to make further consultations on the matter noting that he is not the author of the certificate of financial implication.

“I can’t quite answer the questions raised to me, these questions must be raised to the Ministry of Finance, I will be happy to explain to you my part of the legal aspect and you can go on with the issue of Finance, then the Committee can go on with its own decision,” Kiwanuka said.

The legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee has several constitutional amendment bills and other bills for consideration during the rationalization process among which include the move to merge the Equal Opportunities Commission with Uganda Human Rights Commission.