The Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oboth-Oboth, has assured legislators that all parliamentary committees will receive equal facilitation to enable them effectively execute their legislative and oversight responsibilities.
The assurance followed complaints from some Members of Parliament who said they had been assigned to committees they considered less popular and poorly facilitated.
“I have gotten complaints from some legislators on designating them to committees where their competencies don’t lie,” Speaker Oboth said during Thursday’s plenary sitting.
While chairing the session, the Speaker urged MPs to embrace their committee assignments, including those outside their areas of expertise, saying every committee plays an important role in Parliament’s work.
“All committees are equal and all will be facilitated equally to perform their work,” he said.
Oboth said no committee should be considered more important than another and that Parliament’s administration would ensure uniform support to enable all committees deliver on their mandates.
The issue of logistical challenges also featured during the sitting, with Chairperson of the Local Government Accounts Committee Betty Nambooze raising concerns over difficulties accessing meeting rooms.
“We are failing to get rooms where to hold meetings,” Nambooze said.
In the same sitting, Speaker Oboth announced new austerity measures on foreign travel, limiting the size of parliamentary delegations travelling abroad.
He said, with immediate effect, foreign trips would be restricted to a maximum of six MPs and two members of staff per delegation.
“All foreign trips have now been limited to only six MPs and two staff per trip. This has been done to cut on the costs Parliament has been spending on foreign trips,” Oboth said.
The Speaker said the measures are aimed at reducing expenditure while ensuring parliamentary committees receive adequate support to carry out their oversight, legislative and accountability functions.
