Rebecca Alitwala Kadaga Institute of Parliamentary Studies (RAKIPS) launched

On the 29th May 2019 the In­sti­tute of Par­lia­men­tary stud­ies bill 2019 was tabled in Parliament, debated and a resolution was passed for the bill to be re­named the Re­becca Al­it­wala Kadaga In­sti­tute of Par­lia­men­tary Stud­ies bill.

The bill establishes the In­sti­tute as a semi-au­tonomous body with the ob­jec­tive of con­duct­ing courses for the ex­po­si­tion and en­hance­ment of the knowl­edge, skills, and ex­pe­ri­ence of mem­bers and staff of the Par­lia­men­tary Com­mis­sion and other leg­is­la­tures, in­clud­ing lo­cal gov­ern­ment coun­cils.

Speaking at the launch, Kadaga noted that the In­sti­tute is not only useful to parliamentarians but it also operates as a one-stop center facility to train civil ser­vants from the Local Government too.

She added that the in­sti­tute is to as­sist mainly the par­lia­men­tar­i­ans and staff as it will help mem­bers to be more ef­fi­cient by do­ing con­tin­u­ous train­ing and in­duc­tion.

“In the past, we have been do­ing in­duc­tion for one month, that is be­fore and af­ter swear­ing and we stop there for five months.”

A new Board was instituted and tasked to en­sure that there is pro­vi­sion of qual­ity ser­vices to the 11th Par­lia­ment and lo­cal gov­ern­ments which will comprise new lead­ers with var­i­ous back­grounds.

The rep­re­sen­ta­tives on the new board include Hon. Ce­cilia Og­wal (Chair­per­son), Hon. Alex Byaru­gaba, Hon. Anna Adeke Ebaju and Hon. Lyan­dro Ko­maketch (MPs), The Clerk to Par­lia­ment, Jane Kibirige and the Di­rec­tor of RAKIPS (Par­lia­ment staff). Dr. Stella Ky­ohairwe (Acad­e­mia) and Ms. Jus­tin­ian Ni­wagaba from the Min­istry of Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment.

The re­source cen­tre is intended for train­ing and ca­pac­ity de­vel­op­ment of Mem­bers and Staff of Par­lia­ment of Uganda, Lo­cal Coun­cils and other Leg­is­la­tures within the re­gion mainly focusing on leg­is­lation and de­bate on the floor of the Parliament.