I will here go through the piece of the Communication Act of 2013 sub-section 93 Regulation, where the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MoICT), the man who is the sponsor behind the new amendment of the act in 2016, happens to be the Minister of ICT Hon. Eng John Nasasira, he is now repealing a sentence from the law; he is not rewriting the law in a big part or changing the whole law. He is just crossing over a sentence, but that sentence gives the Minister less power, as if he uses the Communications Act of 2013, he have together with the UCC go to Parliament to get it approved for using the act; That is the major fact! And Hon. Nasasira want to do as he please without questions, open accountable actions or with the consent of other people than himself, he want this to be like the Public Order Management Act or the Public Finance Management Act; where the Police or Ministry can go into the Bank of Uganda without having approval of the Parliament to use those laws, this is the same Hon. Nasasira wishes to do. Take a look!
The Communication Act of 2013:
“93. Regulations.
(1) The Minister may, after consultation with the Commission
and with the approval of Parliament, by statutory instrument, make
regulations for better carrying into effect the provisions of this Act
(2) Without prejudice to subsection (1) the Minister may make
regulations relating to—
(a)fees payable upon the grant or renewal of a licence”.
The new Uganda Communication Act Amendment of 2016 says this:
“1. Amendment of Act No. 1 of 2013.
The Ugandan Communication Act 2013 is amended in section 93 (1)
By the repealing of the words “and with the approval of Parliament”.
(I am just saying) If they do repeal it, since it is not yet voted in the amendment of the law.
Then it would be written like this:
“The Minister may, after consultation with the Commission, by statutory instrument, make regulations for better carrying into effect the provisions of this Act”.
Afterthought:
That makes the simple matter that the Uganda Communication Committee can act without the approval of the Parliament and under regulation of the minister. That gives the minister the opportunity to act on his or her own without asking or questioned by the Parliament, that means that the powers of the minster is getting stronger, as the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, does not need the contact as the repeal of the law will give way to the Ministry of ICT.
The man behind the amendment is Hon. Eng John Nasasira he is the Minister of Information and Communication Technology (MoICT), so the man who support the amendment wants to give himself a bigger mandate without having to talk his arguments for using the Communication Act of 2013 can use with consent of the UCC, but does not need to get approval or tell anybody in Parliament! So the representative of the people and elected people does not have to power to question the MoICT and UCC for their actions, as the Ministry can on their own use the Act as they please, not according to the Parliament as a lawful provider and the custodian of the laws, as it is supposed to be.
So if you catch my drift the amendment will give more power the minister who oversees the law and the UCC, can use the act as they please, if they amend this amendment. The repeal of words gives the opportunity for the minister to use the extended law without questioning or accountability from the Parliament. So the Parliament should not accept this as this is a way of grabbing more power in a ministry and gives the minister more power. This is an example of draconian law where the minister eats the cake, control the cake and dispense the cake, without being questioned about how he share and show the cake. Hope you follow? Peace.
Reference:
The Ugandan Communication act 2013 – 18.01.2013
The Ugandan Communication (Amendment) Act 2016 – 11.03.2016
MinBane 