Advocating for Inclusion of clause 8 (5) and 55(4) in the Public Finance Bill 2012
Forum for Women in Democracy held a press
conference on 13th November to call upon on Members of parliament to
include clause 8 (5) and 55(4) of the public finance bill 2012
On 5th November 2014, the debate on the Public Finance
Bill 2012 returned to the floor of Parliament and has been deferred until 13th
November 2014. As women’s rights activists we anticipate that Parliament shall
handle this critical bill with gender sensitivity but also expedite the process
of passing the bill into law hopefully before the end of 2014.
FOWODE acknowledges that Women shape the development agenda
throughout the developing world yet still remain disadvantaged and excluded in
budgeting, decision and policy formulation processes. They continue to be
sidelined within the household because they have less access to and control
over resources and limited influence over household decisions. According to
UDHS 2011, only 16% of Ugandan Women own land. 39% of women aged between15-49
cannot read and write compared 16% of men and in 2011 according to the report
of the Coalition to stop maternal mortality in Uganda, 16 women died every day
due to preventive death in child birth. Therefore efforts to reduce gender
inequality in Uganda are required on multiple fronts.
The Public Finance Bill, 2012 is an important proposed legislation
for effective, fair and equitable management of public finances for the benefit
of citizens in Uganda. Civil society advanced a number of proposals, which were
adopted by the Committees of Parliament charged with scrutinizing the bill.
FOWODE supports the Committees recommendation under Clause 8 of
the Budget Framework Paper to insert a new clause 8(5) that provides for a “Certificate
of Gender Equity (CGE) that should be issued by the Attorney General (AG)
certifying Ministries, Departments and Agencies’ compliance to gender and
equity issues.
However FOWODE recommends that Parliament should consider
replacing “Attorney General” under Clause 8 (5) with Equal Opportunity
Commission (EOC).
With the Certificate on Gender Equality
in the Public Finance Bill 2012; Ministries,
Departments and Agencies (MDAs) would be obliged to address gender and equity
constraints in their plans and budgets if the CGE was used as an enforcement
mechanism. The Certificate will help legislators use gender mainstreaming as a
performance indicator when reviewing the performance of sectors and their
adherence the Budget Call Circular’s (BCC) call on gender and equity budgeting
even before approving the National Budget. The CGE will also be used as a
demand mechanism by Legislators to the Ministry of Finance Planning and
Economic Development to treat lack of compliance to the BCC’s directive as a disciplinary
issue. If passed
the bill is expected to enhance public finance management and accountability in
Uganda. It covers a wide range of aspects including debt
management, budget preparation, approval and management, macroeconomic and
fiscal policies as well as oil and gas management among others.
We
therefore recommend Parliament should support the recommendation to have the
Equal Opportunities Commission Issue the Gender and Equity Certificate that
will oblige MDAs comply with gender budgeting principles as directed in the
Budget call Circular. In addition, Parliament should consider inserting a new
Clause 55(4) for adoption, where “3% of the petroleum revenue should be ear
marked for developing social services, and agriculture, culture. Developing social
services will not only benefit women but also the other marginalized groups who
are concentrated in these sectors.
Hon Margaret Baba Diri said that any
budget should consider that people with disabilities (PWDs) marginalised groups
and gender
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