Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698831976705.pdf (Uganda)
PARTIAMENT OF UGANDA GUIDETINES ON THE CONDUCT OF SITTINGS OF PARTIAMENT AND COMMITTEE MEETINGS DURING THE COVID.I9 PANDEMIC PERIOD ln furtheronce to vorious meosures thot hove been put in ploce by the Government to combot the COVID-I9 pondemic ond to the eorlier guidelines issued by the Speoker on Thursdoy l9th morch 2020,3,lst Morch 2020,2nd & 4Ih April2020, with effect from, l4th April 2020,ocfrgon1l'eArthoitysiventoll^eSeokerbytmr, the following odditionol guidelines sholl be followed to focilitote the smooth flow of conducting of porliomentory business in Plenory ond Committee sittings during the COVID-,l9 pondemic period; A. SITTINGS OF PARTIAMENT ln order to ensure the WHO recommended sociol distoncing ond necessory preventive meosures- l. Period of sitling.
Plenory sittings sholl be held in the Porlioment Chomber ond sholl end no loter thon 5:00 p.m. 2.

Sitting orrongemenl.

,l00 (1) Every sitting of the House sholl be ottended by not more thon ; members of Porlioment; (o) (b)5 members of stoff of Porlioment deployed by the Clerk to Porlioment; ond (c)2 stoff on the technicol bench of the Government.

(2) Consequently, eighty (80) seots hove been noticeobly morked in the House for use by the bock bench Members, ond eoch hos been ossigned o number.
(3) Prior to o scheduled Sitting of the House, the Government Chief Whip, Chief Opposition Whip, the Speoker for lndependents ond the coordinotor Page 1 of 6 for the UPDF Members sholl designote members in occordonce with the numericol strength in the House; Provided thqt oll Members of Porlioment MUST be given on opportunity to ottend the sittings of the House; (4) The nominotions sholl be sent ond received by the Clerk to Porlioment by 05:00pm o doy prior to the dote when the sitting of the House will be held.
(5) The Clerk to Porlioment sholl notify the nominoted Members using the BULK SMS solution, emoil or other meons, ond further uplooded on the Porliomentory intronet (Alfresco) ond occessible on the members' Toblets (lPods) informing them to ottend thot porticulor Sitting.

(6) The Sergeont At Arms (SAA) sholl ensure thot eoch member sits on o seot os numbered.

3.

Reserved Seots.

(l ) The Clerk to Porlioment sholl reserye seots for the following- (o)the Rt.

Hon.

Speoker or Rt.

Hon.


Deputy Speoker; (b)the Rt.

Hon.

Prime Minister ond leoder of Government Business in Porlioment; (c) l0 Cobinet Ministers; (d)The Hon.

Leoder of the Opposition in Porlioment; ond (e)o member scheduled to move business indicoted on the order Poper of the relevont sitting.

(2) There sholl othenrrise be free sitting in the House to ensure thot members mointoin sociol distoncing 4.

Prohibition of consullotions.


(l)Where o member occupies his or her ollocoted seot in the House, the Member sholl not chonge seots or drow closer to onother Member, the Speoker's or Clerks-ot-the-Toble; or the Technicol bench.

(2) There sholl be no physicol consultotions of the Speoker's Choir or of the Clerk's Toble.

Accordingly, it is out of order for o Member or stoff to opprooch the Speoker's Choir or the Clerk's Toble for ony purpose.

5.

Speoking ond Use of the Microphone.


(1) A member sholl only speok with the consent of the Speoker ond, other thon the front bench, use the microphone designoted to thot member.

(2) A member sholl stond of leost 0.5 metres owoy from the microphone, ond Page 2 of 6 moy, if he or she desires, weor o mosk while speoking.

(3) For the front bench, A member is not ollowed to touch or odjust the designoted microphone.
This sholl be done by the SAA who will ensure thot the microphone is sqnitized before o member uses it.

6.

Record of qtlendonce.

The biometric register of Members' ottendonce to plenory sittings is forthwith suspended.

The Clerk to Porlioment sholl ensure thot eoch Member is monuolly recorded (ond his or her seot number) present of the relevqnt Sitting.

7.
7.

Access of plenory documenls Plenory documents sholl only be occessible through the porliomentory intronet (Alfresco) ond the porliomentory website to ovoid the use of po per docu ments.

8.

Access to lhe House.

Every Member sholl while, entering, within ond when exiting the House, observe the sociol distoncing requirements, together with such sonitizotion meosures in ploce.

9.

Exiting lhe House.


Where o member exits the House, his or her seot sholl be promptly disinfected by the SAA before thot seot is occupied by onother Member.

B.

COMMITTEE MEETINGS.

10.

Restriction on commiflee meelings.


(l ) All Committee meetings ore suspended except; (o)the budget committee meetings on considerotion of the budget estimotes for the FY 2020/21; (b)the finonce committee meetings on considerotion of the tox bills; ond (c)ony other committee opproved by the Speoker to consider motters or proposols oimed of octuolizing meosures to oddress the COVID-19 Pondemic.

(2) A sitting of o Committee for ony other purpose sholl require prior opprovol of the Speoker.
(3) All committee meetings sholl end by 05:00pm.

I l. Ploce for committee meelings.

Committee sittings sholl only be held in the Conference Holl or ony other Page 3 of 6 ploce designoted by the Sergeont At Arms ond the sitting orrongement sholl odhere to Socioldistoncing meosures set by the Government.

I 2.

Conducl of meetings.

Committees sholl conduct poperless meetings through the use of the Members' lpods ond video conferencing where necessory.
Where Video conferencing is required, the Clerk to Porlioment will be notified of leost 24hrs before the time scheduled for the meeting to enoble her moke the requisite orro nge ments.

I 3.

Committee secreloriol A committee meeting sholl be focilitoted by one Clerk Assistont, one Legislotive/Legol Counsel, Reseorch officer, Budget Officer ond one Sergeont-ot-Arms of o given time.
Other members of the secretoriot sholl offer bockground technicol support from offices or of home os moy be determined by the Clerk to Porlioment.

l4.Access of the Medio ond public lo Committee Meelings.

(l)The medio ond the public sholl not be ollowed to physicolly occess Committee meetings.

(2)The Clerk sholl moke orrongements to enoble the Medio ond the public to occess the committee meetings electronicolly.
(3) Every submission to o committee sholl be in soft form through the officiol e-moil of the Clerk (clerk@porlioment.qo.uq).

C. GENERAT I5.Restriclion of entry to the Precincls of Porlioment.

(1) A member or stoff of Porlioment who trovelled out of the country ond returned on or ofter 7th Morch 2020 sholl not be ollowed on the precincts of Porlioment unless he or she presents evidence of negotive COVID-I9 stotus.
(2) Where the trovel wos funded by Porlioment, the Clerk sholl communicote to oll offected members ond stoff of Porlioment.

l6.Cqtering Services.

During this period, there sholl be no cotering services within the precincts of Porlioment.

However, the Clerk sholl ensure thot drinking woter is provided during plenory ond committee Sittings.

i.

Page 4 of 6 I 7.

Communicolion to members.


The Clerk sholl use o bulk SMS ond Emoil System for sending onyolerts ond updotes to members ond stoff using their known telephone contocts on record.

The Clerk is further directed to ensure thot every member's emoil ond telephone contoct is updoted ond confirmed by the member.

lS.Access to offices in Porlioment.


Members ond stoff ore encouroged to seek ossistonce or moke enquires through telephone colls rother thon physicolly visiting leodership ond stoff offices within the Porlioment Buildings.

l9.Access of porliomentory proceedings by the Public.

Porlioment sholl not odmit ony visitors to its Gollery to follow proceedings until such time os it sholl be sofe to do so.
Persons or porties desirous of following porliomentory proceedings ore odvised to do so remotely through; (o) the Ugondo Broodcosting Corporotion (UBC) television; (b)Porlioment YouTube Chonnel by subscribing to the Chonnel; UGPorlioment (c)by occessing the Focebook poge of the Porlioment of Ugondo; or (d)Twitter occount .

20.Speciol colegory of members ond sloff.


ln occordonce with the WHO odvisory, Members ond porliomentory stoff with pre-existing medicolconditions, expectont or loctoting mothers more vulneroble to COVID-,l9, ore encouroged to work from home for their sofety.

21.

Enforcemenl of hygiene meqsures.


(1) Members ond stoff of the Porlioment sholl uphold hygiene meosures ond mointoin o minimum sociol distonce of 2 metres between themselves qnd ony other person whenever they ore within the precincts of Porlioment, including when entering or leoving the House, Committees or other ploces wiihin the precincts of Porlioment.
(2) Ihe Clerk sholl ensure thqt sonitory utilities ore provided of oll entry points to the focilities in the porliomentory buildings ond hond sonitizers sholl be ploced of designoted oreos for use by everyone within the precincts of Porllo me nt.

22.Personol sloff of members.

Page 5 of 6 a Sove for stoff ottoched to members with disobilities, oll other personol stoff of Members ore prohibited from occessing the porliomentory buildings.

23.

Revision of these guidelines.


These guidelines moy be revised by the Speoker from time to time ond sholl subsist for oll Sittings of the House ond Committee meetings during the period of the COVID-I9 Pondemic, or until suspended by the Speoker.

STAY SAFEI lssued under my hond on this Stt dqy of April 2020 Rebecco Alitwolo Kodogo(MP) SPEAKER OF PARTIAMENT Page 6 of 6