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Why Uganda Needs a Lean Government

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The recently concluded parliamentary elections in Uganda has brought the number of parliamentarians to 478 up from 375 in the 9th parliament and all the way up from 92 legislators in Uganda’s first parliament (representing a near 420% increase). In the same period, the population of Uganda has grown to about 42.5m (2018 estimate) up from 7.1m in 1962 (representing a whopping 499% growth in the same period). People may argue that the growth in number of Legislators has kept pace with the growth in population (an average annual growth rate of about 3.3%), but should they?

Taking a closer look at our executive, and you discover that we currently have about 80 ministers (Cabinet and state). When you add other executive appointments like RDCs, ARDCs, Presidential advisors, etc., the size of our presidential appointees, that report directly to the president, makes it not only impossible but extremely discomforting for the head of state. No wonder some of them have been perennially complaining that they can’t even get an appointment with him.

A quick look at the best Governments in the world (the Top 25 well governed countries in the world) reveals Switzerland on top and Cyprus as number 25. What is interesting (although not surprising) to note is that there is no single African country on this list. What is more interesting also is that seven (07) of the 25 countries on the list are also on the list of Top countries with the smallest Executive to GDP per capita. This is a list with the smallest governments (Size) relative to their GDPs. Topping that list is Andorra with only 12 Members on their top governing executive followed by Hungary at 14, Estonia at 15, Luxembourg at 18, Japan at 20, Hong Kong at 21, Singapore at 21, Sweden at 23, USA at 23, Costa Rica at 25 and China at 35. Now, please note that China (People’s Republic) is the most densely populated country at more than 1.3bn people. But these are governed by 35 people including the Head of state.

It is no wonder therefore, that the 7 countries (Sweden, Luxembourg, USA, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, & Estonia) with the leanest governments are also among the best governed. There is a correlation between the size of government and the efficiency of service delivery. Whereas we are busy splitting every village into a district, across the borders and into the global scene, countries are creating trading blocks. It therefore defeats my understanding how we can be aspiring for the EA Community and at the same time splitting districts along small tribal/ clan lines. For example, the split of Mitooma District into 2 constituencies was done in such a way that 3 of the 11 sub counties (predominantly occupied by Bakiga) made a separate constituency leaving the other 8 sub counties with another constituency. Does that bother our leaders? Maybe not. It doesn’t make sense at all, other than quenching the large political thirst by our politicians/ leaders.

Read Also: The voice of the people is NOT the voice of God

My proposal therefore would be to consolidate Uganda’s cabinet to at most 25 members excluding the president and not more than 80 members of parliament (actually, this can be kept with in less than 50 members, with a good formula which I will delve into in my future articles). This should automatically kick out members on the affirmative action since members have now matured and can compete effectively. Also, the Army representatives should not have a place in a multiparty dispensation considering that they are serving soldiers. We should go back on to a consolidation path rather than a disintegration path (for example why have more than 10 representatives in greater Bushenyi when only 2 or 3 would suffice. Or even one), and the same can be said of the Kabale Region, Kisoro, Kasese, Fortportal, Masindi, greater Masaka, Wakiso, Kampala, Jinja, Soroti, Lira, Apach, Kapchorwa etc. We would end up with high quality representatives, who are more willing to work for the people and are not easy to bribe. They would be more accountable…

Lastly, I would propose a Lean cabinet with only 10 cabinet and 15 state ministers as below:

Cabinet Positions (Ministries)

1 Agriculture

2 Education, Culture & Entertainment

3 Commerce (Finance, Trade and Investment)

4 Infrastructure (Transport, energy)

5 ICT & Innovation

6 Legal & Constitutional Affairs (Attorney General)

7 International Relations

8 Defence & Security affairs

9 Health & Human Services

10 Prime Minister

State Ministers

1 Land and Agriculture

2 Sports & Entertainment

3 Culture & Social Affairs

4 Financial Inclusion (Cooperatives etc)

5 Finance & Planning

6 Transportation (Road, Railway, Air, Water)

7 Urban & Rural Planning

8 Energy Services

9 Internal Security

10 External Security

11 Tourism & Market Promotion

12 Youth & Women affairs

13 Presidential affairs

14 Civil & Public servants

15 Research & Development

With the above lean government, I would be ready to launch Uganda into Middle Income economy and beyond!, Please note, there is no slot for the Vice president in my cabinet!

Commentator….Martin Bakundana, a CMCRC research scholar

Strictly Personal

Zambia’s Fiscal Dilemma, State Compensation Ethics and Treasury Stability, By Misheck Kakonde

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The recent judgments overseen by the Attorney General in compensating individuals like Hon. Mwaliteta, Hon. Frank Tayali, Mr. William Banda, and the late Mapenzi a case that should be treated separately raise pertinent concerns. These compensations, while important to acknowledge, have led to substantial payouts from the state treasury, prompting a critical evaluation of their judiciousness.

It is essential to recognize that these compensations do not originate from personal accounts, be it President Hakainde Hichilema’s savings or those of the Attorney General and associated lawyers. They derive from public funds, necessitating prudent management to safeguard the state’s financial health. President Hichilema’s prior observation regarding the nation’s empty coffers adds weight to the significance of responsible fiscal governance.

The present scenario demands intervention from the President to prevent an unchecked depletion of the state treasury. While acknowledging the importance of compensations, there’s a call for the Attorney General to negotiate more reasonable amounts in these consent judgments. The substantial sums being awarded arguably exceeding what’s reasonable ought to be revised downwards, ideally to around K200,000 or lower. Unless in the loss of less of mapenzi, Vespers and many more, their life has no amount to be attached and it is hard even for me to attach a price, may their souls continue resting in peace and those involved are investigated and prosecuted. Such a move would prevent the disproportionate drain of state funds due to payments to a select few individuals.

The Attorney General holds the crucial responsibility of representing Zambian interests and should not succumb to undue pressure from a minority seeking exorbitant compensations. Their role necessitates negotiations for fair consent agreements that safeguard the nation’s fiscal stability.

However, within the confines of consent judgments, wherein both parties cannot appeal, the flexibility for direct alteration is limited. Yet, there exists a possibility for future generations to revisit these decisions through legal means, reassessing their impact on the Zambian treasury. Therefore, the Attorney general and President Hichilema should appreciate this truth.

This situation emphasizes the need for checks and balances to ensure the judicious use of state funds. The Attorney General’s role should extend beyond mere legal representation, incorporating a broader responsibility of safeguarding the nation’s financial interests. President Hichilema’s intervention can steer a course correction, addressing the trend of excessively high compensations that strain the state treasury.

Ultimately, this scenario underscores the delicate balance between honouring just compensations and ensuring responsible fiscal management—a balance that requires prudent negotiation and oversight to protect the interests of all Zambians.

The author is a legal scholar, comparative politics specialist, History and Cultural Studies, expertise in international relations, negotiation, and protocol (ZIDIS).

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Strictly Personal

There is more worth in what is public than in what is private, By Jenerali Uliwengu 

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A conversation I have been having with my compatriots can suffer some escalation to the regional level, especially because our different countries have had largely similar experiences in many respects.

In the 1960s, Dar es Salaam had a more or less efficient bus transport service, run by the Dar es Salaam Motor Transport Company (DMT) organised along lines not dissimilar to the London metropolitan bus service. The city service once even boasted double-deck buses, immortalised in the Kilwa Jazz song, Kifo cha Penzi ni Kifo Kibaya.

The buses ran on strict timelines, and when a bus scheduled to pass by a stop at 7.15 came at 7.20 people waiting at the stop would be seen impatiently looking at their watches.

Some of us in the media would take the matter up as soon as we got to our newsrooms to ask of the transport company officials why our bus had delayed a full five minutes on a working day.

By 1983, the company had been nationalised and called Usafiri Dar es Salaam (UDA) and soon acquired the distinctive Ikarus articulated buses manufactured in Hungary, but soon even thy ran out of steam because of the usual, multifaceted problems attaching to public owned institutions.

Around that time, then prime minister Edward Moringe Sokoine decided to bring in minibuses operating in Arusha and Moshi to rescue Dar es Salaam “temporarily, while the government is making plans for a permanent solution” to the problem.

From that period, it is only now that Dar es Salaam is beginning to see what looks like that “permanent solution” with the introduction of the Dar es Salaam Rapid Transport (Dart), which was initiated by a former mayor, the late Kleist Sykes.

Political skulduggery

It was delayed for so many years due to political skulduggery and the inevitable corruption in all our public institutions.

In the meantime, a former transport minister, Harrison Mwakyembe, had the rare presence of mind to remember that the city had had, since colonial times, railway tracks linking different districts but which lay fallow; he took action, and this initiative — which created what has come to be dubbed as “Mwakyembe’s train” — has contributed to the easing of the transit system congestion, but only just, because of issues such as the infrequency of train rides and the lack of security lights, ventilation and so on.

As it is right now, the Dar Rapid Transit is hobbling along, packing the human press the way you would pack cattle if you are not a keen meat seller.

Surely, our people deserve better than that, and the so-called “Mwakyembe train” needs replication in other parts of the city, as I suspect, there are many other fallow railway tracks waiting for some smart alecks to collect them and sell them as scrap metal.

Amidst all this, we have young people with hardly an income to speak of dying to own and drive a personal car, not for anything else but that owning a personal car makes them “somebody.”

What I have been telling them is, you do not have to own a car to be somebody; you are somebody because you are a useful member of society, and, surely, if you are predicating your personality on ownership of material things, you’re not.

What our young people — including not-so-young people, like me — should be doing is to militate for public transport to be expanded, and for it to work well; that is what they do in Europe and the US. The collaborative cries should be for Dar rapid service to improve: This past week, I was in the Coast region and wanted to ride on the service, only to be told by the bored girl at the stop that they had no tickets. Shame!
I understand there is too much red-tape restrictions in the processes attaching to getting more buses run by private operators. If that is so, what are the myriad officials running around like headless chickens doing?

Luxury cars

Why are they paid all the big salaries and allowed to drive such luxury cars if they cannot do a repeat “Mwakyembe train,” increase buses, and ensure tickets are available for rapid-transit bus rides?

These should be the issues our young people have to be fighting for not driving their cars, except if they belong to the Diamond Platmuz or Ali Kiba cohort.

With an efficient public transit system, we all become part-owners of our collective means of transport.

The opposite of that is when you forget what a car is for and you begin to think like the backward tribesman for whom the car is a mystical contraption which confers miraculous powers on the owner and driver, a far cry from the evolved, modern citizen.

Unfortunately, I know I am preaching to the unhearing, but this should not discourage anyone.

In the fullness of time, the message will sink home when the hordes of the lumpen motorcar realise they have more important things to seek for their lives to be better and more meaningful, instead of the trinkets that are being dangled before their noses.

I stand ready, as ever, to engage in a conversation.

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