After passing the controversial age limit Bill in December last year, MPs are now ready to debate another contentious constitutional amendment bill, according to Speaker Rebecca Kadaga.
Kadaga Wednesday said that Parliament will starting next month handle top 7 bills among them include Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (No.13) also known as land bill that was first tabled on the floor of Parliament on 8 June 2017 by Gen Kahinda Otafiire, minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
“The following bills will be soon be handled Marriage and Divorce bill, Law Reform bill, Sexual Offences Bill, KCCA Bill, Sugar Kill, CAA Bill, and Constitutional Amendment Bill,” Kadaga said. She also warned committees to be mindful of timeframe while scrutinizing a bill as stipulated in the Parliament Rules of Procedure.
“We are going to enforce the rule that a bill stays in a committee within only 45 days and if you fail, you report back so that we give you more time. All bills that have been in committee for more than 45 days will be on the order paper on 5th August 2018,” Kadaga said.
Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2017 (No.13) also known as land bill seeks to amend article 26 of the Constitution in accordance with articles 259 and 262 of the Constitution; to enable Government or a local government to deposit with court, compensation awarded by the Government for property declared for compulsory acquisition; to empower Government or a local government to take possession of the property upon depositing the compensation awarded for the property with court, pending determination by the court of the disputed compensation amount; to give the owner of property or person having any interest in or right over the property the right to access the deposited compensation awarded at any time during the dispute resolution process and to empower Parliament to prescribe the time within which disputes arising from the process of compulsory land acquisition shall be determined.
Despite being tabled earlier that the private member’s Bill on age limit, the land Bill was shelved after it received huge opposition from the public who deemed it in bad faith and intended to allow government to grab peoples’ land.