Parliament sets January 21 as new opening session date

The office of Clerk to Parliament has for the second time postponed the Parliamentary sittings that were scheduled to resume next week on the 14th of January 2020.

According to the letter that has been sent to all legislators this afternoon signed by Paul Wabwire on behalf of the clerk to Parliament, he said, "I am directed to inform you that the commencement of plenary sessions has been rescheduled from Tuesday 14th to Tuesday 21 January 2020".

Committees are urged to utilize the extension of the period given to finalize reports on the budget framework without fail.

Wabwire said that this notice supersedes the earlier one issued on the 3rd of January 2020 by the clerk to Parliament Jane Kibirige.

Parliament broke off for the Christmas holiday in December 2019. Speaker Rebecca Kadaga indicated that sessions would resume on January 7, 2020.

Key issues up for debate include consideration for 15 new cities, passage of the sugar bill, and handling the long awaited electoral reforms.

The speaker argued that since parliamentarians will be distracted the 2021 general election campaigns, they needed to handle as many pending bills as possible.

The second consecutive adjournment comes on the heels of information that both Speakers Rebecca Kadaga and her deputy Jacob Oulanyah are out of the country with no one to chair the session.

The Speaker Rebecca Kadaga is currently in Canada attending an international conference while her deputy Jacob Oulanyah is also in Germany attending another international conference.

On several occasions s, legislators have fronted a proposal for Parliament to have a panel of Speakers in order to address the issue of backlog.