The Ugandan parliament has issued a directive to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Ministry to appoint a board of the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) before the passing of its budget for the current financial year.
The New Vision reports members of parliament (MPs) faulted the country’s minister for ICT, Nyombi Thembo, over the failure of his ministry to constitute a board for the regulatory body, terming it “an illegality”.
“UCC has for the last three years been hiring staff and spending public funds illegally because they have no board yet the minister continues to promise to constitute one during every budget process,” MP Mathias Mpuuga said.
Thembo proposed a three month period to set up the board, but legislators across the political divide demanded a shorter period.
“I will do everything within my powers to make sure that UCC board is constituted immediately,” Thembo said, to which speaker Rebecca Kadaga ruled the board be set up before the ministry’s budget is approved.
Meanwhile, Ugandan MPs may soon be getting iPads courtesy of the parliamentary commission, which has sanctioned the move in an effort to scale down expenditure on stationery.
Although the wider public had voiced discontent on the issue when it was first mentioned, Kadaga justified the move, saying it was part of a wider plan by the government to reduce the more than UGX30 billion (US$11.6 million) it spends on stationery and photocopying annually by embracing e-governance.
When implemented, parliamentarians will get stop order papers, reports and ministerial policy statements on the devices.
