Govt institutions are dead, everyone runs to Museveni- Opposition

The Leader of Opposition in Parliament, Mr Joel Ssenyonyi has accused President Museveni of suppressing government agencies meant to address public concerns and resort to using public outcries to gain political capital.
Referring to the Friday meeting between the President and the traders, Mr Ssenyonyi noted that trader’s issues would ably be solved by the ministry of trade and ministry of trade in consultations with Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), not necessarily the President.

“When you have somebody who has been in power for 38 years now and continues to do anything and everything to keep power that means everything, including service delivery, institutions become choked and this one person becomes the institution, which is problematic '' Mr Ssenyonyi told this Publication on Monday.
“This is the case in Uganda and that is why everybody with issues has to run to the President, be it teachers, students or traders. No one would think of meeting the ministers for their respective dockets because they know where power lies, which is a wrong practice because then institutions or offices cannot function,” he added.

Mr Ssenyonyi reiterated that if state offices and institutions were left to operate independently, Ugandans would not be grappling with the current poor service delivery at different levels of government systems.
“It wrong to the have a single individual that wills all the power.No wonder that we are retrogressing as a country because in countries which are progressing, institutions function and operate independently, but here it has got to be one person,” he said, adding that “institutions can only get back their autonomy once this regime is out of the way because it a complete breakdown of the regime.”

The Opposition Leader further expressed dissatisfaction on the outcomes of the Presidential meeting with the traders, arguing that the President did not address the critical issues raised by the traders, especially the misuse of public funds through corruption.
“The President didn’t even avail any solution, because the traders are not seeking for a suspension (of EFRIS), they want a complete overhaul but they are also complaining about their tax money being stolen in corruption, but this one individual will not address all these,” Mr ssenyonyi said.

According to Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago, the current power dominance by the President is a manifestation of the failed state. He urged Ugandans to rise up against and advocate for decentralization of powers to the government agencies and offices.
“I am worried that people have not appreciated the magnitude of this problem because it started with reducing the position of a Lord Mayor and people just laughed it off. Now, he has dismantled all the state structures when he brought his cabinet of ‘fishermen’ and he has made all institutions to become ceremonial because he wills power,” Mr Lukwaga said.

Mr John Kikonyogo, the Spokesperson of Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) said “President is strategizing for the next general election and he is using all the available avenues to hoodwink the public by looking as a caring leader.” He further urged the President to stop politicking and address the critical concerns which are raised by the public.

Kampala Woman MP, Ms Shamim Malende proposed that parliament should consider revising the powers of the president to ensure that he does not suffocate public agencies which continue to be funded by the public funds.
“This one man’s show is purely political and I think we need to go back and revisit the powers that the President has in the constitution, so that his mandate is only limited,” She said.
Efforts to get a comment from the government spokesperson, Dr Chris Baryomunsi , were in vain as calls and messages from this reporter to his known phone number went unanswered by press time.

Some of the recent presidential interventions
In November 2021, President Museveni met with leaders under Uganda Medical Association (UMA) over low salaries and unfulfilled promises to the medical fraternity.
In December 2021, President Museveni told the Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Kamya to go slow on lifestyle audit of government officials, arguing that corrupt officials will stop investing the swindled money in the country.

In July, 2022, President Museveni met Uganda National Teachers' Union (UNATU) leaders over demand to raise Arts teachers’ salary, after the teachers agreed to suspend a strike which had lasted for two weeks.
In November, 2022, the President met with Kampala Capital Authority (KCCA) leaders and city market leaders over rows which had erupted in the leadership markets in Kampala Metropolitan Area, the President directed markets to be taken over by the KCCA.

In August, 2023, President Museveni met with members of National Association of Broadcasters over a directive which restricted advertising to only state-owned media houses, which was reversed during the meeting.

In May 2023, President Museveni directed that the ministry of health not to scrap payments for medical interns, ending occasional stand-offs between police and medical interns who demanded for deployment.

In October, 2023, President Museveni ordered the ministry of finance to reinstate Geraldine Ssali as the accounting officer for the ministry of trade, industry and cooperatives despite being sacked on recommendation of Parliament over corruption.

In December 2023, President Museveni wrote to the chief justice Alphonse Owiny-Dollo directing him to intervene and stop the auctioning of Gaddafi National Mosque as ordered by court over Shs19 billion debt owed to businessman, Justus kyabahwa. Uganda Law Society and individual lawyers accused the President of interfering with the independence of the Judiciary.

On Friday last week, President Museveni met with leaders of traders who were on a sit-down strike over Electronic Fiscal and Electronic Receipting Invoice (EFRIS), a system used by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) to collect VAT. Although URA had earlier insisted that EFRIS cannot be suspended or halted, the President in the Friday meeting suspended the system until May 7.

Equally, the newly appointed minister for Children Affairs, Mr Balaam Barugahara recently asked the opposition leaders to submit lists of the currently incarcerated National Unity Platform (NUP) supporters so that he can plead to the President for their release. These have been in jail for over 3 years despite the efforts to secure their court bails.