Finally the government has resurrected its plans to merge all departments, agencies and commission with the three years process slated to see the government save on average UGX. 988 billion when completed.
According to the Monday 22nd cabinet decision read by the ICT minister Judith Nambakooba, cabinet received and noted a plan for the merging and consolidating of a number of institutions. Confirming a plan well-presented that will be followed over three years to reorganize a number of ministries and institutions with a view of improving service delivery in the country.
The decision now recommends setting up an inter-ministerial technical committee on government agencies, commissions, authorities and public expenditure, issuance of a circular by the public service communicating a freeze on creation of new agencies, commissions and authorities and provide guidance on the management of transition arrangements for boards and staff whose contracts expire in due course of rationalization.
The inter- ministerial committee will also be tasked with handling change management and implementation strategy, reviewing the legal framework of the affected agencies, revising structures and the compensation of persons to be off boarded, revise the salary structures as per the public service guidelines among others.
Background
The idea to emerge agencies, departments and commission was started by President Yoweri Museveni way back in 2018 following a report by ISO which showed how the said institutions were duplicating work and eating much of the national budget.
If statistics are a thing to go by, it is worth noting that expenditure by the said agencies then was 37 % of the national Budget, while the staff of the said agencies took almost more than 50% from the National Salary envelope.
At the inception of the idea by the president, the cabinet was divided with some not supporting the idea on grounds that it was going to affect the economy as many workers were going to lose their jobs where as others were supporting the idea saying it was going to save the then collapsing economy greatly burdened by high public expenditures.
Some of the agencies to be affected by the merger include, UNRA, NIRA, NAADS, NEMA among others.
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