The Sexual Offences Bill, 2015 that has been before Parliament for almost three years now has finally been withdrawn amidst disappointment from the House.
The Bill was first tabled on 14th April 2016 by Monica Amoding who was then the National Youth Member of Parliament and now the District Woman MP for Kumi.
The object of the bill is to consolidate all laws relat-ing to sexual offenses, combat sexual violence; pro-vide for punishment of sexual offenders; provide for procedural and evidential requirements during trial of sexual offenses and for other related matters.
Last week on Wednesday, the House moved for the Bill’s second reading, unfortunately, due to absence of the Bill’s committee report, the House didn’t proceed to the Bill’s committee stage, a stage where the Bill is scrutinized clause by clause. Instead, the chairing Speaker Rt. Hon. Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah ruled that the Bill was to proceed to that stage on Tuesday, 19th Feb 2019.
However, on Tuesday, Monica was forced to withdraw the controversial Bill after Oulanyah claimed that the content of the Bill in its current state is bigger and broader than the initial Bill itself and that lots of amendments have been included. Oulunyah recommended for withdrawal of the Bill and advised Hon. Monica to incorporate all the recommendations presented into Bill and then retable it.
“I am just pointing out a procedural fact where the amendments to the proposed bill are bigger than the Bill itself. Is it still the same bill? The reason for gazetting the bill is to alert the whole public that this is what we are going to discuss, now if what is coming out is completely different from what you gazeted, is it still the same process?” Oulanyah noted.
Monica had earlier argued that she had invested a lot of time and resources to have the bill reach the committee stage which would be so discouraging to the members of the public whose plight the bill seeks to address.
“The issue we are discussing is a very sensitive matter regarding sexual offences and all Ugandans would be concerned about it. It has taken three or so years and there has been a lot of consultations on the matter,” she said.
“Our argument is that we consider the bill because of the interest the public has in it which has resulted into a lot of redrafts,” she requested.
Monica was supported by Ayiivu county MP, Bernard Atiku who noted that it takes a long time for private members to have their bills gazetted as government is not always willing to give them certificates of financial implications which is a prerogative for any bill to be considered by Parliament.
Monica painfully took on the recommendation and voiced to the House how she was greatly disappointed by the decision of the committee of the whole House. Withdrawal of the Bill implies that for the mover to retable the Bill, there has to be repetition of the whole Bill’s process including regazatting it and acquiring a new certificate of financial implication.
Among the contentious clauses in the Sexual Offences Bill includes criminalizing rape in marriage.
