Research/academic paper

Monitoring Legislative Representation: Environmental Issues in the 7th Parliament of Uganda

“The study sought to assess the effective legislative representation or performance of individual MPs, the committee on the Environment and Natural Resources and the entire 7th Parliament on Environmental matters. The utility of this initiative is to ensure that the interests of poor communities who are dependent on environ-mental and natural resources are effectively represented at the highest level of decision making- Parliament, through their represen-tatives and at the same time the people should hold them accountable. The study developed monitoring indicators for tracking effective representation of constituency and national environmental issues in Parliament namely; contribution during debates on the floor of parliament; regular attendance of Parliamentary sessions; track record of ENR sensitivity; Private Members bill and voting patterns of MPs on controversial bills and motions, relating to the environment. This paper is divided into six sections: the Introduction; Background; Environment,
Poverty and Representation Nexus: Towards a Conceptual Framework; Performance of the 7th Parliament on Environmental Bills, Motions and Petitions,Recommendations and the Way Forward, and the Conclusion.”