Gov’t in lockdown over merging of agencies

By Our Reporter

In December 2017, the country woke up to the news that
President Yoweri Museveni had instructed Prime Minister
Ruhakana Rugunda and the Minister of Finance, Matia
Kasaija to work at merging a number of government
agencies, arguing that government was bloated.

The pronouncement was welcomed and loathed in equal
measure across the political spectrum, with one group
saying the move would curb the wastage in expenditure,
while another school of thought was that 10,000
Ugandans lose their jobs following the mergers.

However, almost two years after the pronouncement, no
major step has been taken to effect the presidential
directive, prompting Speaker of Parliament, Rebecca
Kadaga to lash out at Government over failure to
implement the proposed merger of about 53 government
departments and agencies arguing that the hitherto slow-
paced merger has left staff at the agencies and donors
anxious pondering their next move.

Kadaga tasked First Deputy Prime Minister Moses Ali to
explain why the Executive continues to cause anxiety and
pointed out that some of the proposals for mergers was
queer.

“When will the country know whether you are merging or
not or leaving everything so that people can settle down?”
asked Kadaga.

The Speaker’s remarks followed a matter raised by Keefa
Kiwanuka (Kiboga East) who argued that although
government announced that departments and agencies
were going to be merged an exercise that would result into
mergers, abolishing and scrapping some agencies,
returning others to their mother ministries with about 53
agencies merged and 20,000 employees lose their jobs,
nothing has been done about the matter.

Kiwanuka said, “However, it occasioned a lot of distress
waking up in the morning not knowing whether you will
have a job, banks declined lending to some agencies,
investors who would have invested in some agencies got
nervous about the move and some donors are nervous
about whether some agencies they are funding will
continue existing or not. There has never been a briefing
to Parliament. Isn’t it about time that Government briefs
Parliament about the time frame of these mergers. Give
an update on the matter. How is government managing
change which causes anxiety?

General Moses Ali acknowledged that although
Government had committed to carry out the mergers,
there were complications detected along the way which
saw the executive call in the Attorney General to save the
situation.

“It is true this action was being taken but midway, we
realized that it wasn’t easy to finalise the matter. As of
now, cabinet has asked the Attorney General to examine
these areas. The House should be patient with us,” said
Moses Ali. 

However, Moses Ali’s response attracted more questions
than the answers it sought to provide with Kadaga scoffing
at the proposal wondering how all these Acts will be
annulled yet the same Executive has failed to process
some of the bills they promise and tasked the Prime
Minsiter to update the country on how far the Executive
has gone with mergers, “I can’t imagine if Government has
failed to bring the bills they proposed in the state of the
nation. When will they bring all those Acts? So what does
the public hear from you, that you still intend to merge.”

During the debate on the matter, Markson Oboth revealed
the impact the proposal had created in the country stating
that the move has caused a lot of anxiety and the Prime
Minister’s remarks didn’t help matters but instead caused
more anxiety.

He added that although the intentions of government for
the merger were good, he warned that the process if not
conducted smoothly would attract a lot of legal challenges
and the Executive should instead announce there would
be merger to calm the situation.

“The staff from these agencies can’t access loans, we risk
putting more resources in these agencies. It would be right
that government comes out clearly, there will be a
minimum of about 53 legislations, you touch every
structural body, there is a law, you want to merge them
half harzardly, you will get into all sorts of trouble. These
agencies have running contracts, they have international
obligations, some of these things needed thorough study
before taking that omnibus,” said Oboth.  

Gov’t Shifting Positions On Agency Merging

The genesis of the debate on the ‘bloated’ government
started in 2017 following a July 17th 2017 letter by
President Museveni to Kasaija, Minister Of Finance
Planning and Economic Development, Muruli Mikasa
Minister of Public Service, Esther Mbayo Minister for the
Presidency, John Mitala Secretary to Cabinet and
Chairman National Planning Authority where called for an
investigation in which administrative units in the country
would be downsized.

Describing his subject as mushrooming agencies and
authorities, the President wrote, “I want efficiency with no
further delays. You have up to December 20th 2017 to
propose a plan to Cabinet.”

Following the letter, the Internal Security Organization
(ISO) conducted an investigation from July-November
2017 and recommended for merging of public agencies
after discovering a series of wasteful expenditures within
the public sector.

Since then, there have been a number of statements on
the merging of the agencies a case in point in September
2018 when outgoing Minister of Justice and Constitutional
Affairs, Kahinda Otafire defended the decision by
Government to merge a number of agencies revealing
arguing that many of the agencies had created a parallel
Government within the Government itself.

While meeting MPs on the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs
Committee, lawmakers argued that although the move to
merge the agencies was welcomed and would help curtail
the duplication of duties, there was need for special
consideration to agencies that had posted commendable
performance, citing the Uganda Registration Service
Bureau.

However, Kahinda asked the Committee not to interfere
with Government policies stating that the merging of
agencies wouldn’t cripple work in Government but will be
critical at boosting efficiency in service delivery.

“The agencies bloated up to 153 and we realized many
were doing more or less the same thing. Many agencies
resulted to sort of creating a parallel government. There
was a government within a government,” the Minister said.

In August 2019, Muruli Mukasa declined to comment
about the pressure Government was under pressure from
donors to go slow on the exercise with some expressing
reservations about continuing to fund some agencies if
they revert to their parent ministries, especially given the
huge budgets that they run said the merging exercise was
still being studied.

Sources well placed with the matter argued that some
organisations are quite unique in their operations, they are
largely funded by donors and therefore have budgets that
are almost five times bigger than those of the mother
ministries. Their operations would be curtailed by the
controls in the ministries.

In December 2017, a section of MPs issued a thirty day
ultimatum to Government to merge, scrap and downsize
public Ministries, Departments and Agencies to curtail on
the duplication and wastage of tax payers’ money.
 
 
Led by Solomon Silwanyi, Bukooli Central MP, the group
told journalists during a press briefing at Parliament that
failure by the Executive coming up with a concrete plan to
curb the expenditure, will leave them with no option, other
than table a Private Member’s Bill to have all the 119
agencies reviewed.

Silwanyi, who doubles as Vice Chairperson NRM
Parliamentary Caucus argued that despite the fact that
these agencies were set up to improve on service delivery,
this has not been achieved with many of these agencies
increasing government expenditure, however, save for the
threats, not even a motion saw its way to Parliament to
that effect, save for the political clout the MPs sought at
the time.

The ISO report revealed that a number of agencies were
spending billions on fuel, foreign travel, consultancies and
salaries, compared to their counterparts in Ministries.

Additionally, some Agencies spend a lot of their monies on
workshop and advertisements with investigation further
revealing that some Agencies and Ministries are fond of

inflating their budgets to create avenues for siphoning
public funds.

According to the proposal, electricity generation,
transmission and distribution companies, and the Rural
Electrification Agency which were initially under the
defunct Uganda Electricity Board before its split, were
going to be merged into a single entity.

The Lotteries and Gaming Regulatory Board and Departed
Asians Properties Custodian Board were to be placed
under the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic
Development.

In the agriculture sector, National Agricultural Advisory
Services (Naads), the Uganda Trypanosomiasis Control
Council (UTCC), Dairy Development Authority (DDA),
Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and
Cotton Development Organisation (CDO) were to revert
back to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and
Fisheries.

The National Identification and Registration Authority
(Nira) and the NGO Bureau were to be downgraded and
placed under the Ministry of Internal Affairs, while the
National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) was
to be placed under the Ministry of Information
Communication Technology and National Guidance.

The Uganda Land Commission was to be sent back to the
Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, while
the Uganda Aids Commission and Uganda Blood Transfusion Services were to be sent back to the Ministry
of Health.