KAMPALA- The Government Chief Whip, Hamson Obua has revealed that the NRM Caucus meeting slated for this afternoon at State House Entebbe is expected to take the final decision on the fate of the 16 agencies that Government is proposing to rationalize and once the decision is reached, Government will move to reintroduce the Bills in Parliament.
Obua made the remarks while addressing journalists at Parliament ahead of his departure to State House where he said that during today’s meeting, President Museveni is expected to give a report on what was agreed upon in the meeting with MPs on the three Parliamentary Committee of; Agriculture, Finance and National Economy.
“The NRM caucus meeting at State House Entebbe is aimed at generating the last consensus on the 16 remaining Bills under rationalization before they are tabled because in the last caucus meeting, members differed the presentation of the Bills pending consultation with the President. So today, the President will give the report and the feedback between the meeting he had with the three Committees, then members of Caucus will debate, discuss and whatever agreement that we make, that will form the resolution of caucus going forward on the remaining 16 Bills,” explained Obua.
He added, “The position that will be ratified in today’s caucus meeting, then if that particular provision of a transitional clause carries the day, that means, through the Attorney General’s Chambers, Government will proceed and conduct the rationalization of UCDA but with the provision that will cater for the transitional period for three years. We agreed in principle with the three Committees that we support rationalization.”
Brandon Kintu, Spokesperson for the NRM Caucus urged journalists to be patient and not speculate on what will be discussed during the caucus meeting until the final position is communicated at the end of the meeting.
“I don’t want to preempt but these discussions have been going on and some Committee where those agencies are supervised met the President, so I would like to give you conclusive remarks at the end of today. You remember we had divergent views that we didn’t conclude in the previous caucus, this is the continuation of the business that we didn’t finish,” said Kintu.
He however confirmed that rationalization and merger of agencies will be top of the agenda during the meeting noting, “However, we also have issues of rationalization. We have Government agencies that have been there, we have agencies that have been doing the same work like Ministries, we have been having conversations that we merge them so that we reduce wasteful expenditure and allocate that resource into other things. So as NRM, we shall have conclusive remarks.”
Despite being a member of the National Unity Platform, Jimmy Lwanga (Njeru Municipality) confirmed his attendance of the NRM Caucus meeting arguing that the matters to be discussed are of national importance that can’t be obscured with party politics.
“I am a member of National Unity Platform who represents all Ugandans at national level, but I am going to State House to meet the head of state and the head of Executive,” said Lwanga.
He however concurred with the position taken by Buganda Parliamentary Caucus not to merge UCDA stating, “I agree with MPs of Buganda Parliamentary Caucus on the issue of coffee because recently, the President met MPs of Agriculture, National Economy and Finance and they agreed that UCDA stays, but they included a clause that they should first empower the Ministry of Agriculture to prepare it to take over the mandate of UCDA. But as someone in the coffee business, UCDA has done a great job and we are going to stand together with those saying UCDA should stay because it has done a great job at boosting the value of coffee in Uganda.”
Lwanga used the platform to call on supporters of National Unity Platform not to “provoke” security forces as was the case during the recent incidence and called out the medical team that handled the case, saying they spread lies that Robert Kyagulanyi had been shot, only to retract the medical diagnosis later.
“We extended our sympathies to Kyagulanyi and he is lucky that where the tin hit him, he survived even those who had given us false statements that he had been shot and the doctors who dressed him something unrecognizable has been suspended by the hospital because he brought so much fame to those of us in the medical profession and stakeholders in the profession because you can’t do such a stupid diagnosis to dress someone who hasn’t broken their leg with a caster and later in the morning, you change and dress the area with plaster because it was just a simple scratch,” said Lwanga.
He added, “Although, we don’t agree with that and there is need for security operatives to do better. All I can tell Kyagulanyi is let every side do their job because if you read the Police report, it shows that the NUP supporters provoked Police by stoning them. But these are armed people and you shouldn’t expect them to stone you when you do so because for them, their stones are different.”
