Parliament has reconsidered and passed two Bills that were returned by the President in July 2024.

The Higher Education Students’ Financing (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and The National Commission for UNESCO (Amendment) Bill, 2024 were passed during plenary on Thursday, 26 September 2024 after a debate on reports by Hon. James Kubeketerya, the Chairperson of the Committee on Education and Sports.

The students’ financing Bill seeks to mainstream functions of the Higher Education Students’ Financing Board (HESFB) into the Ministry of Education and Sports, in order to give effect to government policy on rationalisation.

One of the President’s concern in the Bill was the proposal providing to redeploy the HESFB staff following the rationalisation of the board.

He argued that the staff were neither appointed by the Education Service Commission in accordance with Article 168(5) of the 1995 Constitution nor appointed in the Public Service under Article 166(1) of the Constitution and therefore, did not qualify for a redeployment in Public Service.

“The President proposed that section 43(6) of the Higher Education Students’ Financing (Amendment) Act, 2024 be deleted because it is not applicable to the staff. He further proposed that staff should be retired and compensated on abolition of office,” said Kubeketerya, also the Bunya County East MP.

The President also proposed that the long title to the Bill be reconciled and read the same with the long title provided in Clause 5.

The Attorney General, Hon. Kiryowa Kiwanuka, explained that the two long tittles were a drafting matter, saying that once the Bill is assented to, the long tittle of this amendment will be ‘spent’ while the tittle in the original Act stays.

On the National Commission for UNESCO (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the President was uncomfortable with the establishment of the Uganda National Commission for UNESCO (UNATCOM) as a department in the ministry and preferred it as a unit, saying, “It is cabinet that establishes such structures [departments] not Parliament.”

The President was also uncomfortable with the continued use of the terminology “Commission” in sections 5, 14 and 15 of the Act on ground that it conflicts the Cabinet decision of establishing UNATCOM as a unit in the ministry and would subsequently, cause legal confusion, especially in the administration of the mainstreamed entity.

MPs questioned government’s readiness to pay terminal benefits to the affected staff of the rationalised agencies during the plenary sitting chaired by Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa.

Hon. Mathias Mpuuga (NUP, Nyendo-Mukungwe Division) asked government to establish guiding principles for retiring staff of entities that have been rationalised to avoid future lawsuits and petitions on retirement benefits.

“We never set ground rules for rationalisation; do not be shocked to find that in the coming months, we shall be dealing with unpaid retired public servants. Before the entity is closed, the retirement package should be in place; staff should go with their package to avoid backlogs in future,” Mpuuga said.

Kiryowa Kiwanuka told the House that legally, staff of rationalised entities cannot be seamlessly transferrable to the mainstream public service.

“Staff from other different public services cannot necessarily be redeployed to the mainstream Public Service because that person needs to go through recruitment under Article 172 of the Constitution, that is why we insist that the service has to be terminated and the person reapplies,” the Attorney General said.

“As we were considering the Ministerial Policy Statements for this running financial year, the Minister of Public Service noted that much as MDAs are rationalising, there is a gap of funding. It was indicated that Shs74 billion was required to fully ensure that compensation is catered for but only Shs1 billion was available and that was for the energy ministry,” Hon. Betty Naluyima (NUP, Wakiso District Woman Representative) said.

The Minister of Public Service, Hon. Wilson Muruli Mukasa, assured MPs that for all government entities that have been rationalised, termination benefits have been prepared and that staff will be able to leave with their packages.

The reconsidered Bill will be transmitted to the President for assent in accordance with Article 91(4) of the Constitution.