- RATIONALIZATION OF GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, COMMISSIONS, AUTHORITIES, BOARDS.
On February 22, 2021, Cabinet resolved to merge, mainstream and rationalize Government agencies, Commissions, Authorities and Public Enterprises to enable efficient and effective service delivery. The process started with the abolition of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), whose function and budget reverted to the Ministry of Energy. As a result, some of the affected agencies petitioned Parliament on grounds that there was no clear justification for the rationalization exercise and that it was likely to have a negative impact on service delivery and the economy.
This prompted Speaker, Hon. Anita Among to constitute an Adhoc committee to inquire into the merger process on September 2nd 2021 to examine the rationale for the mainstreaming and merger of government agencies and conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the mainstreaming and proposed merger. She also tasked the committee to study the effect of the mainstreaming or merger on the current employees and assess the impact of the mainstreaming and merger on service delivery and come up with appropriate recommendations to Parliament over the rationalization exercise.
The MPs also disagreed with a Cabinet decision to merge the National Identification & Registration Authority (NIRA), NGO Registration Bureau and the Citizen Registration function under the Department of immigration under the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB). They instead recommended that URSB and NIRA remain separate entities with one being in charge of the registration of legal businesses and another in charge of the registration of persons.
This was as at the behest of the Ministry of Public Service recommendation to Cabinet that 80 of the 157 agencies had to be retained as semi-autonomous agencies, 33 agencies to have their mandate and functions mainstreamed to their relevant line ministries, and 35 agencies be consolidated or merged into 19 entities.
The Ministry of Public Service further indicated that the proposed rationalization, merger and mainstreaming of agencies would yield an annual saving of Shillings 998.12 billion for the government. Cabinet embraced the recommendation and approved an implementation roadmap for the process in a phased manner to spread over a period of two financial years 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.
Whereas the FDC supports the rationalization efforts in principle with a view of the desire for Government to align the functions, structures, plans and budget of Government institutions based on national strategic goals and priorities in the provision of public services and also to eliminate functional ambiguities, duplications and overlaps among Government institutions among others.
We are concerned with the criteria of rationalization process used to select agencies for merger or abolition. We feel the executive has stampeded Parliament by short changing the Parliamentary adhoc committee on rationalization report where Cabinet through the Public Service Minister the Hon. Muruuli Mukasa had vetoed the adhoc committee findings and ended up pushing the cabinet proposals in total disregard of Parliament. We are concerned with the no clear justification for the rationalization exercise. Rationalization is being done en masse without a critical review as to why each body was set up in the first place, the source of funding for each , what each agency ,commission and authority has achieved so far (cost /benefit analysis) and what each will achieve going forward if it stays as it is rather than being merged with the line Ministry.
The FDC call for transparency in the rationalisation process by ensuring that a critical review of each agency ,commission and Authority should be made against the criteria stated in the report of the Ahoc committee of Parliament where by those bodies that merit retention as stand – alone units should continue to operate as they are currently doing. Those that fail the criteria shouldn’t have been merged with the line Ministries.
- THE COST OF PRESIDENTIAL APPOINTEES TO THE TAX PAYERS.
Last week, Ministry for Presidency presented to Parliament a list of over 357 new Assistant Resident District Commissioners (RDC) posted in the 146 Districts. However, this comes at a time when Parliament is expediting the process of rationalization of Government agencies and departments in order to reduce on expenditure, duplication of work and foster efficiency.
We in the FDC look at this gesture as contradiction in the government’s strategy that as government is on the other hand is busy pushing for it is simultaneously appointing a significant number of Assistant RDCs. We are concerned of what roles are the new Assistant RDCs going to play that RDCs and Deputy RDCs aren’t playing.
This has further sky rocketed the cost of public administration that stands currently at Shs7.4trillion. The huge cost of public administration has over the years soared from over Shs 465billion in the financial year (FY)2001/2002 to Shs 7.4 trillion in the next FY budget.
The appointment of 357 Assistant Resident Commissioners (RDCs) in public service rubs salt into the wound .The new burden to the tax payer, openly balloons the wage bill by Shs3 billion each year .The country is already struggling with the high levels of youth unemployment, poverty that chains many people across the country, corruption as well as a sick health care system that condemns the poor to pain and death.
The appointment of more than 300 Assistant Resident Commissioner (RDCs) will increase the country’s wage bill by Shs 3b annually, a development FDC finds as counterproductive to the ongoing efforts to reduce public expenditure. FDC believes in a lean, effective and efficient Government. In our 2021 Presidential manifesto, We promised to abolish the Office of the RDC as part of our plans to reduce on public expenditure and wastage of our tax payers in an era where the reigning Government has resorted to borrow non-conventional loans to pay salaries of its Public Service Force.
Further, the Auditor General’s report for the Financial Year 2020/2021 revealed that out of the 146 RDCs, only 107 have space rented by the Presidency while 15 are accommodated in government-built offices and 24 RDCs lack offices. While In 2020/ 2021, government spent Shs445 million on rents for RDCs’ offices. In the financial year 2023/2024 Government allocated 70bn to construct Offices for RDC but only got 8bn.
According to the Parliamentary Committee on Presidential affairs, it cites under facilitation in terms of fuel for RDC’s Office whereby the burden is always transferred to the District Local Government and it explains partly why the Office of RDC has become conduit for land grabbing.
We believe that the appointment of Assistant RDCs is irregular and invalid and thus contributes to the bloated administration structure instead of appointing RDCs, why not employ more doctors to reduce on their shortage in hospitals which we are grappling with? President Museveni has appointed an NRM mobilization brigade paid by tax payers for the 2026 elections disguising as Assistant RDCs.
- MONEY BONANZA TO THE NRM POLITICAL ENTREPRENEURS
We are deeply concerned with habitual misuse of tax payers’ money by the NRM Political entrepreneurs. President Museveni has turned State House into a clearing house where he has awarded the tax that Ugandans religiously pay to his regime cronies and proxies for self-aggrandizement. A case in point is a company called Dei International who deals in local manufacturing of pharmaceutical products who the Parliament will be sitting tomorrow to consider among others to approve a supplementary budget of over 585bn for this facility yet the same Government awarded this political entrepreneur a grant of 75bn to manufacture vaccine and nothing has ever come out, we view this as scam. We are wondering whether Government before awarding him this money did a feasibility study to be abreast with needs assessment before coming up with this loan facility to this so called investor at the tail end of the financial year where we are left with barely a month to end the financial year.
We seem to be having the same syndicate where last year Parliament passed a supplementary budget to Mr. Ruparelia Sudhir who was awarded 165bn to finalize the construction of the International Conventional Centre at Speke Resort Munyonyo. Immediately upon the completion of the same facility, Government hired the same facility where NAAM conference was hosted. It can’t be a facility build by Government and there after hired by the same Government. It’s like somebody constructing a house and there after rent it to himself. It’s completely ridiculous.
The same cabal of political entrepreneurship is seen in Peneti who has always surfaced whenever there are dirty deals. Mr. Museveni presented her to Ugandans as an investor only to learn that she was given free land to construct a health facility in Lubowa – Wakiso District, on top of free prime land. Government got a loan of 1.1trillion to give this person they call an investor to build a hospital which has never been constructed as we speak, Lubowa is an abandoned out of bounds territory where even the Speaker of Parliament and the Leader of Opposition are not allowed to visit a facility which they passed budget including a supplementary to the effect. The same Peneti, the President had awarded the monopoly to export coffee only that Parliament blocked this thuggery. As Ugandans wallow in hard biting poverty coupled with an oppressive tax regime, money collected from the down trodden is being splashed to these political entrepreneurs who enjoy the suffering of Ugandans.
Walid Lubega Mulindwa
DEPUTY SEC. PUBLICITY IN CHARGE OF PUBLICATIONS & DOCUMENTATION