NRM MPs approve merging of government agencies – The Kampala Report

NRM MPs have caved in to President Museveni’s demands and agreed to support all the 16 rationalization bills, with only Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and National Information and Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U) accorded the special extension of 3 years as transition periods.

The pronouncement was made by Hamson Obua, Government Chief Whip while addressing journalists at Parliament on Friday evening, dealing a big blow to the last hope, the staff from the affected agencies were hanging on.

The Government Chief Whip defended the special treatment given to the two agencies, citing the need to resolve questions around international accreditation for UCDA and the need for NITA-U to complete two key infrastructure projects its undertaking, that are being funded by loans from World Bank and the Chinese Government.

“NRM MPs agreed to pass all the Bills on rationalization providing for a three year transitional period for Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA) and National Information Technology Authority Uganda (NITA-U). Apart from the two, any other agency stands to be rationalized fully. It is only the two, where there will be a provision on a transition for three years. So why not Dairy Development Authority (DDA)? I think that is done,” remarked Obua.

“For the case of UCDA, there are two issues is handling the question of accreditation at international level. Then the second is preparation of the Ministry of Agriculture because you all know that coffee is one of the most strategic crops that we are producing as a country. NITA-U is currently implementing two projects which are loans that Government of Uganda obtained from the World Bank and China Government. So Caucus felt it wise that NITA-U also needed to benefit from the transitional period in order for the two loans to be implemented to their logical conclusion,” remarked Obua.

The Government Chief Whip further stated, “Coffee remains a strategic crop at national, regional and international level. The most important thing about coffee is the global demand. The global demand of coffee remains as long as farmers are still cultivating this crop called coffee and the global demand is still high, definitely, the market of coffee will still be there.”

On the fate of the staff in these agencies, Minister Obua argued that the human staff with expertise will be absorbed into their respective Ministries explaining, “We aren’t saying that even the experts in UCDA will pack and go home, we aren’t saying the experts in all the Government entities will pack and go home. Government will get a way of accommodating those experts within the departments that will be created in each and every Ministry, as opposed to creating these autonomous, semi-autonomous bodies with Boards and parallel structures. So, all those experts will be accommodated within the Government structure.”

“Rationalization is intended to make Government appear leaner, aiming at avoiding duplication. That is why there will be a department established under the Ministry of Agriculture to look at strategic crops like coffee, that department will be accredited internationally, which takes some due process, the reason why we are saying for now, we create a transitional period for coffee because the process of accreditation will take some time. But also give the Ministry of Agriculture an opportunity to reorganize itself,” argued Obua.