European Parliamentarians for Africa

Training in Legislative Drafting and Mastering the Rules of Procedure, Mukono, Uganda, 24-26 July 2008

Article 79 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides that Parliament shall have power to make laws on any matter for the peace, order, development and good governance of Uganda. In fulfilment of this function, Parliamentarians are expected to study and assess Bills (legislative proposals) brought before them, against the criteria of good governance and development, amongst other things. So that Parliamentarians may assess and scrutinize the content of Bills effectively, they must understand the Bill creation process, the structure of Bills and basic techniques of legislative drafting. Against this background, AWEPA has organized a training programme in legislative drafting for all women members of Parliament. The training, which will take place 25-27 July 2008, hopes to strengthen the MPs' legislative drafting skills. The training should lead to the following outcomes:  

• Competence of women members of parliament in legislative drafting skills, so that women parliamentarians may  contribute  meaningfully to the development of legislation;
• ability of women members of parliament to develop and draft Private Members' Bills, including gender sensitive bills, for tabling in parliament;
• finalisation of the Gender-based Violence Bill by UWOPA members so that UWOPA can present it in parliament.

Objectives:

• Train women Parliamentarians in legislative drafting;
• help parliamentarians effectively assess and scrutinize the content of bills;
• help parliamentarians understand the bill creation process, the structure of Bills and basic techniques of legislative drafting;
• empower women members of parliament with legislative drafting skills so that they can better appreciate their role as legislators.