Preliminary remarks on cabinet reshuffle

Press statement

1. Eighty cabinet members: ministers (32) and ministers of state (48) is a luxury Uganda can’t afford. Administrative costs are going to eat deep into development funds leaving insufficient resources for development. The faces or names are the same. This is a cabinet that serves political and not development purposes.

2. To be effective and efficient ministers should be assigned to ministries for which they are qualified. Many of the ministers are qualified and experienced but are in wrong ministries, compromising their performance.

3. The Vice President should have been given a full ministry to engage him visibly and reduce size of the cabinet.

4. At a time when the economy is in trouble, an experienced economist in public and private partnership should have been among the top three. Two lawyers and a political economist or political scientist at the top is not the right mix.

5. Planning and economic development should have been split from finance in view of the Five Year National Development Plan (NDP), leaving finance to mobilize resources to fund the Plan. In the present setting planning is a junior partner to finance.

Preliminary remarks on cabinet reshuffle

Press statement

1. Eighty cabinet members: ministers (32) and ministers of state (48) is a luxury Uganda can’t afford. Administrative costs are going to eat deep into development funds leaving insufficient resources for development. The faces or names are the same. This is a cabinet that serves political and not development purposes.

2. To be effective and efficient ministers should be assigned to ministries for which they are qualified. Many of the ministers are qualified and experienced but are in wrong ministries, compromising their performance.

3. The Vice President should have been given a full ministry to engage him visibly and reduce size of the cabinet.

4. At a time when the economy is in trouble, an experienced economist in public and private partnership should have been among the top three. Two lawyers and a political economist or political scientist at the top is not the right mix.

5. Planning and economic development should have been split from finance in view of the Five Year National Development Plan (NDP), leaving finance to mobilize resources to fund the Plan. In the present setting planning is a junior partner to finance.

What can Uganda learn from the collapse of the Romanovs’ dynasty?

The political developments in Uganda are worrying and could end up in another bloody confrontation if common sense does not prevail at home and abroad. In order to find a lasting solution one has to identify the root cause of the problem like a good medical doctor does before prescribing medication. Pointing out the cause of the problem in Uganda has made some readers uncomfortable who have resorted to using uncalled for language to intimidate and silence the author because they do not want to hear the truth that may force them to accommodate others. These are Ugandans that believe in winner-take-all. Those Ugandans who harbor the notion that they were born to rule others in perpetuity are mistaken and are on the wrong side of history which does not entertain such notions. In Europe those who believed in the divine right of kings were defeated. And in societies where leaders in government and opposition compromise political problems are resolved peacefully resulting in stability, economic development and improvement in the standard of living of all. On the other hand in those societies where leaders are autocrats (rulers who hold absolute power over societies) and resist change the end result is a sad one, sometimes even tragic. The story of the Romanovs is an illustration of the latter.