COMMITTEE FOR PRESIDENTIAL AFFAIRS MEETS MINISTER FOR GENERAL DUTIES 15/04/14

The Committee was chaired by Fred Mwesigye with Peter Ogwang and meeting the Minister for General Duties Hon Kabwegere. The Minister was representing Office of the Prime Minister and presented the OPM’s report to the Committee on the activities of the OPM this financial year as well as plans for the next financial year. The presentation also included information requested by the Committee in previous meetings with the OPM earlier this year.

Key issues that arose in this meeting are as follows:

The Status of Refugees in Uganda

As of the 27th February 2014, the Minister informed the Committee that the numbers of refugees are on the rise due to the on-going conflicts in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia as well as individual refugees who trickle into the country from stable countries for individual security concerns. The following statistics were presented to the Committee on the numbers of registered refugees in Uganda;

1. Congolese refugees – 170,2592. South Sudanese refugees – 93,1463. Rwandese refugees - 14,7934. Somali refugees – 17,7925. Kenyan refugees – 1,0106. Burundi refugees – 13,0317. Eritrean refugees – 5,2008. Ethiopian refugees – 1,4489. Sudanese refugees - 1,26110. Other refugees – 9,871

Cattle Giveaways by the Government

The presentation to the Committee included representations for the planned cattle purchases for restocking the government farms.

The Committee commended Office of the Prime Minister on the distribution of cattle to the locals; however some members raised concerns about the benefits of the programme. For example, there is a plan for 20 billion Uganda shillings to be spent on re-stocking for the year 2014/15. Hon Ssebagala wanted to be informed about the cost of past restocking, how much had been spent, and whether this program has actually gotten any benefits recorded. He suggested that the government could breed cows for giving away instead of purchasing, and in the future sell cows to farmers instead of endlessly spending money giving cows without getting any returns.

Hon Ogwal similarly asked whether there are any measures in place to ensure the survivability of the cows the government gives out. Whether there is available water and medicine for the animals. Hon Kabwegere replied that the distribution of animals is mainly restocking of already existing and

established farms. This means that the dams and waterholes already exist and there is no need for the OPM to interfere much with the already established farm activities.

Bududa Displaced People Resettlement

The Report also contained information about the planed resettlement of the internally displaced people in Bududa. The Minister mentioned the challenges faced by the Ministry of Disaster Preparedness.

The topic was of particular concern to Hon Mbuga who had serious allegations about the government’s land acquisition in the areas where the people are to be reallocated. He said there have been fraudulent dealings with the removal of caveats placed upon desired lands and other suspect activities. The Committee member also went further, to accuse one Nakabugo Rose of being a key player in all this. Although he insisted (supported by Hon Amoit) on having her give her defence to the Committee, the Minister in charge of the delegation refused this saying that forcing her to make a defence for herself would be a serious breach of her right to legal representation and right to remain silent. After a small debate the Chairman upheld the Minister’s reservations.

Hon Onek also took Hon Mbuga’s allegation very seriously and promised to get the relevant organs to follow it up.

One Member commended Hon Onek on his successes in her area of Uganda as far as relief is concerned. She also noted that the Ministry is giving seeds to refugees to help them settle and be productive. She requested that the Ministry consider doing this for disaster hit Ugandans in agrarian communities to help them get back on their feet. Hon Onek was encouraged by her comments and promised to take up the possibility of promoting crop plantation and other forms of agriculture in order to help internally displaced people get back on their feet.

The Procurement of Hydrafoam machines

Hon Mawanda raised the question of the hydrafoam brick making machines, which were, a few weeks ago, brought up by Hon Otto. He asked why the Office of the Prime Minister was planning on procuring more of these machines yet it was reported that the locals had abandoned them. He asked why the government does not just move the machines not being utilized to other areas where they have been requested for.

Hon Kabwegere answered this, saying that the Ministry does not send machines without consultation or demand from the recipient communities. He added that the question of utilization should not be mistaken with that of demand. He said further that there was a conflict of information with the Ministry of Works which had discouraged hydrafoam bricks saying they were not of a desired quality.

The OPM also added that some of the hydrafoam machines are damaged and have been taken in to be fixed, and it was added that many people who have been utilizing the machines had not been trained on how to do it and so trainers from South Africa have been called upon to carry out training.

Challenges to the Procurement Process

Hon Mawanda further asked the Minister whether the requirement for the Solicitor General to sign the government’s contracts and agreements is a part of the lengthening of the procurement process. The Chairman also asked the Minister to inform the Committee whether the Office of the Prime Minister and its Ministries receive the allocated money in time.

Hon Kabwegere affirmed his opinion saying that the Solicitor General’s office is flooded with requests from every organ of the government and it is possibly one of the unavoidable causes of bureaucracy.

The Unfunded Priorities in the OPM

The Minister’s presentation included a number of activities which would be unfunded for the 2014/15 financial year. Hon Amoit was concerned about this list of activities citing that migrations are going to remain unfunded for the 3 rd time. She questioned whether it is actually a priority of the government.

Digital Migration

The Digital Migration process was explained to the Committee as a lot wider than just television. It was said that it involves a lot of data and by end of June the entire country will have been covered, the transmitters will have been fixed. There is a simcast period where there shall be both analog and digital transmitting and hopefully by June 2015 it shall be fixed and the analog transmission will be switched off. There will be a migration of other ICT services. They are on track and will meet the deadline.

There was only USD 11 million made availed to cover television terrestrial migration, however only USD 2.5 has been released by UCC.

The UBC Board Controversies

Hon Amoit asked the Minister to explain to the Committee the controversy surrounding the UBC Board of Directors. She wanted to know if the Board has been disbanded or still stands.

Recently UBC approved Directors and some inspectors recently reported a conflict of interest. Hon Namayanja has responded to the IGP and the accusations were without strong merit and as follows;

1. That the Chairman of the Board had a conflict of interest since he owns NBS which complaint has been withdrawn,

2. That Hon Nabeta was removed from Parliament because of inadequate professional qualifications. Hon Nabeta has got qualifications from out of Uganda and had gotten verified in 2001 and 2006 and in 2011 did not go for verification and on this ground the verification was not encountered and the IGG has been told.

3. Mr Simon Kaheru who owns SMS Media therefore conflict of interest was alleged but it is stated that SMS Media is completely different from UBC and his qualifications are essential for being on the Board.

4. Slyvia Nakabugo is going to be on the Board and it was opposed because she is Minister for Information.

Questions on Committee and OPM Cooperation

Hon Ssebagala again criticized the OPM’s presentations to the Committee stating that they never give enough details to allow the Committee to make follow-ups in the districts. He demanded to know the exact places that the Reports asserted activities had been carried out instead of giving general areas such as “in Karamoja sub-region. Hon Kabwegere responded saying that when the OPM makes reports “we are telling you to go and check” since the Committee requested the Information.

Hon Kabwegere further added to Hon Ogwal, “When we are asked where is this borehole now, in which village? Then you are being very unfair.” Hon Ogwal defended himself saying the Committee members simply want more specific reports citing that “we are in a country where valley dams disappear…”

Hon Kabwegere further added that the OPM is going to endeavor to photograph all the ceremonies of animal distribution so that there is more tangible evidence for the Committee in terms of accountability.

Hon Onek, in response to the challenges that are faced by his Ministry said he is considering formerly requesting every Ministry in the country to be able to cater to unforeseen circumstances that affect them. He suggested “let the institutions (like Ministry of health) that have properties susceptible for disaster have budgets so that we are left with ordinary citizens” he further suggested that these be internalized in the Ministry’s budgets annually. He further said the forest cover has been lost and so the situation in Uganda as far as environmental disasters are concerned is going to get worse with time. He is therefore considering having technocrats to come up with building a national resilience for the challenge. The Chair replied to this saying that as Cabinet Minister Hon Onek has the mandate to issue a directive that all the government technical structures should come up with ways of pre-empting the expected disasters and preparing for ways of neutralizing them. Hon Onek promised to put them to serious work saying “our public servants are busy enjoying their time… many of them don’t do serious work.”

General Oketta requested that the Minister for Disaster Preparedness support the Minister for Northern Uganda and consider his area where he says that people are suffering. He emotionally conveyed that women are giving birth to children and dying because they have no medical help. He also explained that Lacho hospital is 35 kilometers away from his area. Kabwegere responded to this saying that boundary conflicts are causing a problem and hindering government activities. He said that the Parliament help is needed in resolving the hostility that is for the most part made up of misunderstandings. He mentioned border conflicts between Nakapiripirit and Napak; Jumbe and Moyo.

In Closing

The Chairman informed the OPM that the Committee will be visiting Karamoja soon and so requested that the reports promised be submitted so that the visit can be well facilitated.

Kabwegere requested that the Committee appreciate the bulk of work being done, claiming that Karamoja is becoming the Eden talked about in the Bible. He was applauded.

Chairman Concluded saying the entire team has ably handled all the questions and it is appreciated and he is grateful.