According to Article (83) of the Constitution, a Member of Parliament may lose his or her seat in any of the following instances—

• On resignation in writing to the Speaker;
• If he or she subsequently ceases to qualify to be a Member of Parliament;
• If he or she is absent from 15 sittings without permission of the Speaker;
• If he or she is found guilty of violation of the Leadership Code of Conduct;
• If he or she joins another party or leaves the party and decides to remain an Independent member;
• If a member was elected as an independent and joins a party; or
• On appointment as a public officer.

This is an officer of the House charged with security of the Speaker and Members.

The Sergeant-at-Arms is the ceremonial custodian of the Mace and the implementer of all orders and actions requested by the Speaker.

The SAA carries the Mace in and out of the Chamber in a procession at the beginning and end of each sitting of the plenary.

The main role of the SAA is to provide a safe, clean and secure environment throughout the precincts of Parliament.

The specific functions of the SAA, which is a full department in the Parliamentary Service include to provide security to MPs, staff, visitors and facilities within the precincts of Parliament, to control admission and access to the precincts of Parliament, to provide proper ceremonial aspects of the House, to provide maintenance and cleaning services, to advise and administer allocation of offices and committee rooms, and to provide first aid services and occupational safety measures to minimize accidents and fire.

1. To examine and comment on policy matters affecting the ministries covered by them;
2. To initiate or evaluate action programmes of those ministries and to make appropriate recommendations on them;
3. To critically examine bills brought before the House before they are debated;
4. To critically examine government recurrent and capital budget estimates and to make recommendations on them for the general debate in the House;
5. To monitor the performance of ministries; and
6. To ensure government compliance

A Session is the period beginning with the date when Parliament commences to sit, upon being summoned by the Speaker and ending when it’s prorogued and is usually one year.

A Sitting is the period during which Parliament sits continuously without adjourning and this also includes any period during which Parliament is in Committee.

A Meeting is any sitting or sittings of Parliament commencing when Parliament first meets after being summoned at any time and ending when Parliament is adjourned sine die or at the conclusion of a session.

This is a proposed law moved or introduced to the Parliament by backbench Members of Parliament or Committees.

A Private Member's Bill is not introduced by a minister or the Executive.

The Speaker is the political head of the institution of Parliament.

• The Speaker receives dignitaries and high profile visitors to Parliament
• Conducts inter parliamentary relations
• Issues external high-level communication on behalf of Parliament
• Links Parliament with the Executive
• Oversees the functioning of the Parliamentary Service through the Clerk to Parliament
• Chairs all the sittings of Parliament and ensures that the Rules of Procedure are observed
• As head of the institution, the Speaker represents Parliament in its corporate relations

An Appropriation Act is a law containing the amount of money to be spent by each Government ministry, department and local government, and authorising the withdrawal of that money from the Consolidated Fund.

The Speaker will move from his/her seat to the Clerk’s Table when Parliament moves into a Committee of the Whole House or Committee of Supply.

This happens when these particular committees are considering and approving clauses of a Bill or an appropriation bill respectively.

This is the official government publication in which all official government communication is published.

It can be accessed in public libraries and from the Uganda Printing & Publishing Corporation.