MOTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS IN UGANDA PARLIAMENT

Source: The Clerk to Parliament A motion is a formal proposal made by a Member of Parliament that Parliament or a Committee of Parliament takes action or orders that action is taken on a given matter. Most of the business in Parliament is conducted through motions. If the motion is agreed to, it expresses judgment or the will of the House in regard to specific issues. When a motion contains a prayer, it is referred to as a motion for resolution of Parliament. If Parliament, after debating the motion agrees to the prayer, it then becomes a resolution of Parliament. The prayer is the action or set of actions that the mover requests Parliament to adopt. When the motion for resolution is adopted by Parliament, the Clerk to Parliament signs the resolution and forwards it to the relevant authority for action. TYPES OF MOTIONS There are two main types of motions namely; Substantive motion and Subsidiary motion. SUBSTANTIVE MOTION This is a Principal motion for which notice is required and is placed on the Order Paper as an item for debate in the House. However, with leave of the Speaker, such a motion may be moved without notice. SUBSIDIARY MOTION This is a motion that is dependent on the substantive motion. NOTICE OF MOTIONS A Member intending to move a motion gives at least a three day notice to the Office of the Clerk for onward transmission to the Speaker. However, a Member may with the permission of the Speaker, give oral notice of a motion during a Sitting. The motion is not placed on the Order Paper until three days have elapsed since the notice was given. If the Speaker thinks that it is in public interest that the motion be considered before the expiry of three days, he/she may direct that it be placed on the Order Paper at a convenient time. Any oral notice of a motion must be put in writing and handed to the Clerk before notice is given to the House. AMENDMENT TO MOTIONS The Speaker may permit a Member to amend without notice, a motion of which he/she has already given notice, if in the opinion of the Speaker, the amendment does not materially alter the subject matter of the original motion. MOTION WITHOUT NOTICES: The following motions can be moved without notice: A motion to amend a question already proposed by the Speaker; An adjournment motion for purposes of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance; A motion for the adjournment of a debate; A motion for the suspension of any rule of procedure; A motion for the withdrawal or re-admission of strangers; A motion for the reference of a Bill to a Committee; A motion for the House to resolve itself into a Committee of the Whole House; A motion when the House is in Committee; A motion for the approval of a report from the Committee of Supply; Any motion made in accordance with the provisions of the rules governing the procedures as to the Bills; A motion certified by the Speaker to be a matter of emergency; A motion that was given oral notice; A motion raising a question of privilege; A motion for closure of debate; A motion relating to an appeal from the President concerning the approval of a Presidential nominee whom the Committee on Apointments has rejected. SECONDING MOTIONS A seconder is any Member who rises in support of the motion immediately after the mover has proposed it. He/she may speak to it, or just rise in his/her place in support of it. A motion is not debated unless it is seconded. However, a seconder is not required for a motion moved in the Committee of the Whole House or in Committees. WITHDRAWAL OF MOTIONS A motion or an amendment to a motion may be withdrawn by the mover, with the permission of the House or Committee before the question is put on the motion or the amendment. A motion or an amendment that has been withdrawn may be proposed again, if, in case of a motion, a three days’ notice is given as required. If the question has been proposed on an amendment to a motion, the original motion may not be withdrawn until the amendment to the motion has been disposed of. DEBATING MOTIONS When a motion has been moved and seconded in the House, the Speaker proposes the question on the motion in the same wording as the motion. The Speaker may at the beginning of any debate specify the time that each Member contributing may be given. The Speaker may call upon the mover to reply at the end of the debate. Thereafter, the Speaker puts the question. SPECIALISED MOTIONS ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Definite matter of urgent public importance. Any Member may move an adjournment motion for the purpose of discussing a definite matter of urgent public importance. If not less than five other Members rise in support, and the Speaker orders that the matter is a definite matter of urgent public importance, the Speaker then appoints a time on the same day when the motion may be moved. A Member intending to move an adjournment motion submits to the Speaker, the terms, in writing, of the matter which he or she desires to be discussed at least two hours before the commencement of the day’s Sitting. The requirement may, however be lifted if the Speaker is convicted that it is impossible to meet. In determining whether a matter should have urgent consideration, the Speaker takes into account the extent to which it is the responsibility of Government and the possibility that the matter will soon be brought before the House by other means. The right to move this kind of motion is subject to the following conditions: The matter proposed for discussion must be one that calls for immediate and urgent consideration; Not more than one such motion may be made at any one sitting; Not more than one matter may be discussed on the same motion; The motion must not raise debate on a matter which has already been discussed in the same Session; The motion must not raise a question of privilege; The debate under the motion must not raise any question which, according to these rules, can only be debated on a substantive motion under notice; MOTION FOR ADJOURNMENT OF DEBATE (DILATORY MOTIONS) A dilatory motion is a delaying motion to interrupt the business under discussion and can only be introduced by the Member who is speaking. A Member who wishes to postpone to some future occasion further discussion of a question which has been proposed from the chair may move “that the debate be now adjourned,” or in Committee of the Whole House, “that the House do now resume and the Committee do report therto.” The debate on any such motion shall be limited to the matter of the motion. If the Speaker or the Chairperson thinks that any such dilatory motion is an abuse of the Proceedings of the House or Committee, as the case may be, he or she may not propose the question. If the motion is agreed to, debate is postponed to a date fixed by the Speaker. A dilatory motion, which has been rejected, may not subsequently be moved during the same debate, whether in the House or in the Committee of the Whole House. HALF HOUR MOTIONS On any day on which the Order Paper contains the item half-hour motion, the Speaker interrupts business thirty minutes before its conclusion and calls upon the Member in whose name the item stands to move the half-hour motion. The right to move a motion of this kind is not allotted to more than one Member for each Sitting. At conclusion of the debate, the Speaker shall put the question on the motion without allowing a division. MOTION WITH REGARD TO SETTLEMENT OF FINANCIAL MATTERS Unless introduced on behalf of Government, Parliament cannot proceed on a motion that has the effect of: Imposing taxation or altering taxation except by reducing it; Imposing a charge on the Consolidation Fund or other public fund of Uganda or altering any such fund except by reducing it; Paying, issuing or withdrawing from the Consolidated Fund or other public fund of Uganda any money nor charged on that fund or any increase on that payment, issue or withdrawal; Changing the composition or remission of any debt due to the Government of Uganda. MOTION TO AMEND RULES A Member may move that any rule be amended by giving a notice of not less than five days. The notice of any motion for the amendment of any rule is accompanied by a draft of the proposed amendment. On secondment, the motion is referred to the Committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline which considers the proposal and reports to the House. MOTIONS NOT TO BE MOVED IN PARLIAMENT A Member may not move a motion that has the effect of proposing a state region contrary to Article 7, proposing derogation from particular human rights and freedoms contrary to Article 44, and proposing the creation of a one party state contrary to article 75 among others.