President Yoweri Museveni has described the new cabinet as a cross generational one which took into account expertise, unity and stability of the country, calling on the new ministers to take advantage of this and consolidate and unite the people. “This cabinet as you can see is a cross generation cabinet. The grandparents are here like myself, the parents are here and the grandchildren are also here in this cabinet.
I must tell you that it was a pleasure to read through the CVs of the members of parliament because there are so many well educated people in that parliament. These ones I selected are not necessarily the best, best, best, best…. they are very good but there are also many good ones in parliament. But as you know, we must do so many other things like balancing. It is very good to see how educated the young people are,” the jovial Museveni said.
The President said the new cabinet represents stability, fusion and synthesis over the last 25 years because children have grown up and become mature enough to be elected by the population as leaders, adding that the fact that young people have grown out to be elected into leadership positions shows the stability of the country. “It is also a cabinet of unity. There were quite a bit of divisions within the NRM after the Primaries. So I used my powers as chairperson to arbitrate some of the struggles and some of the appointments are to deal with those issues of restoring unity within the NRM. You ministers must take advantage of this and find ways of uniting the people. Don’t be arrogant or offend people. Don’t talk loosely. There is no reason why you should divide people.
This is a cabinet of unity according to my efforts to unite the people,” he said. He singled out Koboko, Zombo, Bushenyi and Teso which had been torn apart during the primaries. The President who was speaking shortly after the swearing in of cabinet ministers and Ministers of State at State House in Entebbe also described the new cabinet as that of expertise. The swearing in ceremony was conducted by the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet John Mitala assisted by the Deputy Secretary to Cabinet V.Opio-Lukone. The new ministers were accompanied by relatives, friends and in-laws. “It is very good for intellectuals to come and link up with people. Why should we have under production when we have a professor of science policy,” he said referring to the new Minister of State for Agriculture Zerubaberi Nyiira Mijumbi who has a vast knowledge of agriculture sector. Also the new Minister of Energy and Mineral resources Engineer Irene Muloni is an electrical engineer , the new Minister of Finance , Planning and Mineral Development an economist while the new minister for information Mary Karoro Okurut is a seasoned media expert are among some of the intellectuals.
The President also described the new cabinet as that of great mobilisers and that the new cabinet should be united around a vision. He said it is good for all members of parliament and NRM members to know their vision, adding that part of the problem of Africa has been a vision. “When you hear that Africa has stagnated 50 years after independence, it is not a problem of resources; it is mainly a problem of vision. What we have done is that over the years, synthesized our vision. The country needs jobs for the young people, the country needs a wider tax base to collect taxes to run the country and more export earnings, more dollars to come into the country, the country needs improved incomes for homesteads etc. all these depend on investments. Without investments we can’t get all these things. We must be able to attract investments,” he said.
He however added that, you can’t attract investments if you don’t solve the problem of high cost of doing business in your economy. “Investors don’t want to make losses and in order not to make loses you need low costs of transport, electricity etc so that you spend little on those items to make profits. For this to be done, solve the problem of infrastructure such as electricity, roads, telephones, ICT those must be there and cheap. Therefore one of our priorities is to deal with infrastructure,” he said. Singling out the issue of electricity he said that the U.S.A. has a 12,000 kilowatt hour per capita as compared to only 8 in some African countries. He said that Uganda has 80 kilowatt hour per capita and expects to increase it with the completion of Bujagali hydro power station. “My wish is that by end of five years when we finish Bujagali, Karuma,Isimba, Ayago we will have 500KWH per capita. The new cabinet will have to galvanize itself around the vision,” he said.
On the issue of corruption, he said it was a problem that diverts resources and also raises cost of doing business in the economy, adding that Uganda is now finally getting on a very unequivocal course in terms of dealing with these bottlenecks. He warned that the holiday for permanent secretaries as accounting officers in charge of money, contracts, personnel etc is over. “Even if the ministers tell you to do something wrong tell them no because it’s against the law, if they insist tell them to put it in writing so that it is clearly their decision not yours. I will hold the permanent secretaries accountable to be the ones to guide these ministers not to fall into temptation but to be delivered from temptation. President Museveni who was in a jovial mood occasionally gave insights into why he made the decisions he made.
While shaking Moses Ali hands, the President said,” I don’t want to incite UPC against Ali, but you see Ali is used to making coups,”. He also described the new State Minister for Microfinance Caroline Amali Okao as his daughter who advised him to give microfinance to malwa groups and it did miracles. “I will never forget that,” he said. When it was the turn of the Minister for Karamoja, who is also the First Lady Janet Museveni to swear in, President Museveni told his daughters who had remained sitting as the mother took her oath to “stand up and support your mother’. President Museveni later recommended that the new Minister of Education Lieutenant (Retired) Jesca Alupo Epel should go for a commanders course so that she can be a major atleast.
On the new minister of Works and Transport Eng. Abraham James Byandala, the President chipped in that the Monitor News paper had written an article commenting that from Nasasira to Byandala means more potholes. “So Byandala needs to work hard,” he said. Museveni later wondered whether it was allowed to distort tribal names after Prof. Kamuuntu referred to himself as Kamuntu and said he would have to defend himself on talk shows for appointing Banyenzaki. “I hear movement supporters are asking how I can appoint Banyenzaki,” he said.
He said the new minister of state for local government Alex Androa Onzima headed the West Nile Elect Museveni task Force. “When he was still in FDC he was wearing yellow and when he was challenged, he said yellow is the Pope’s colour,” he said. The President later had a group photo with the Ministers before hosting them and their families to a state luncheon.