Committee on Defense & Internal Affairs meets the National Planning Authority and a representative of religious institutions

The Committee held a meeting with a delegation from National Planning Authority (NPA) and Bishop Dr. Sserwadda who was representing Bord Again Faith-based institutions at Parliament in Conference Hall C.

The Executive Director of NPA noted that the CAO should chair monitoring committees at the district and the RDC may only assume supervisory roles if the Bill is to be aligned to the established government reporting structures. He also objected to the need for memorandums of understanding at district levels as this amounts to duplication which may lead to conflicting agreements at national and district levels. He further cautioned against attempting to control NGOs.

Bishop Dr. Sserwadda called for special status for Faith-Based Organisations (FBO). He asked that they be permited to migrate from the docket of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to a new Ministry of Religious Affairs to cater for the interests of multi religious organizations. He further called for no tax to be imposed on FBOs and urged for charities managed by an FBO to be identified as Religious Charitable Organisations (RCOs).

According to the Committee program, the European Union Ambassador in Uganda was scheduled to appear before the Committee at Parliament to discuss the same Bill but he did not attend. No reason for this development was made public.