The Minister of Justice, Tharcisse Karugarama, yesterday tabled a provisional bill before the Senate that seeks to establish general provisions governing public institutions.

"A public institution shall enjoy a legal personality and shall be managed in accordance with laws governing Public Service, to which the State allocates funds in order for it to carry out specialized activities in the public’s interest,” said Karugarama.   

However, this bill will not apply to commissions and other specialised state organs provided for by the constitution.

In his intervention, Senator Rwigamba Balinda raised concerns over the many laws governing public institutions that may need to be amended.

"There are dozens of laws governing different public institutions; are we going to amend them all or is there another way this will be worked out?” Balinda questioned.

In his response, Karugarama said that there will be a two-year grace period for every institution to ratify their laws.
The draft law indicates that the law establishing the institution shall determine the competent authority to lay down the statutes governing its staff.

It also indicates that each public institution shall determine its own annual budget which must be approved by the competent organs.

The budget of the institutions shall be implemented in accordance with the Organic Law relating to budget and state property.

The bill establishing a Public Institutions shall provide for auditing organs and modalities for internal and external auditing.

Ends