After over a decade of discussions, a bill on the use genetically modified organisms in Uganda could be enacted as a law even without the president's nod. 

Late last year, the Parliament passed the biosafety bill for President Yoweri Museveni's signature. However, the president did not pass it into a law and requested for revisions in the bill. The Parliament has submitted the revised bill that addressed the concerns raised by the president. Over a month has passed since that submission and the president neither signed the bill within the period mandated by law nor provided written reasons for failing to do so. 

According to the Ugandan constitution, when the president fails to sign or return a bill to the Parliament within the prescribed 30 days, "the President shall be taken to have assented to the bill and at the expiration of that period, the Speaker shall cause a copy of the bill to be laid before Parliament and the bill shall become law without the assent of the President." 

The Speaker is now expected to move to lay on the table for decision.

Read more from the Genetic Literacy Project.