Ministers who have hit the ground running

PIC:  Tourism state minister Godfrey Kiwanda (with flag) visited Charles Hamkungu the elephant at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, Entebbe earlier this month. This was during the launch of Unlocking the tourism potential of Uganda. (Credit: Miriam Namutebi)

KAMPALA - At the beginning of his current term, President Yoweri Museveni promised improved service delivery, saying "this is Kisanja Hakuna Mchezo".

Riding on that new wave of getting things quickly done, several ministers have already hit the ground running with aggressive efforts aimed at quickly getting the desired results.

The state minister for tourism Godfrey Kiwanda Ssuubi, for example, has already captured the attention of the nation through his initiative of promoting 'rolex' (originally eggs rolled in chapatti) as a source of tourism attraction.

Although the initiative has received criticism from some sections of the population on the argument that the wheat used for 'rolexes' is a predominantly imported product, the vigour with which the minister has started marketing the country's tourism is what is more promising.

The Mityana North MP, who is also the Buganda caucus chairman, is an ambitious politician who always wants to achieve much in a small space of time. This is evidenced in the way he became a Member of Parliament in 2001 at the age of 28.

Kiwanda had also offered himself to contest for the position of NRM Vice Chairman for Buganda but he later had to get out of the race after it had been ring-fenced for Hajji Abdu Nadduli.

The state minister for labour Herbert Kabafunzaki is another of Kiwanda's kind in a cabinet that has been given an uphill task of working for speedy social-economic transformation of the country.

Kabafunzaki (pictured above) started off by visiting factories owned by Indians and Chinese to ascertain the working conditions of employees.

The minister has also embarked on aggressive efforts aimed at ensuring that Ugandans who have been turned into slave workers in the Middle East are helped.

Kabafunzaki has been councilor for Makindye A in Wakiso before he became Member of Parliament for Rukiga County this year.

While serving as councilor in Wakiso, he is remembered to have undertaken various efforts to fight corruption, including writing a letter to the ministry of local government complaining about the high level of corruption in Wakiso local governments.

The minister for Kampala Olive Beti Namisango Kamya is also at the forefront of ministers who are executing their duties with aggressive and innovative initiatives.

As soon as she was sworn in as minister, Kamya (pictured below) set out with her deputy Benny Namugwanya to engage the various stakeholders in Kampala for consensus building and leadership that leaves no one behind.

That approach, which her predecessor never applied, has endeared her a lot of admiration from city dwellers seeing her as someone who has come to unite them rather than divide them.

The Uganda Federal Alliance (UFA) president who is also a former presidential candidate is one of the opposition leaders put in cabinet who have hit the ground running.

Many believe Kamya would be running even much faster than she is down if she was not operating in a territory whose stakeholders had a recent past of acrimony.

Mukono South MP Johnson Muyanja Ssenyonga commended the First Lady Janet Museveni (pictured below) who is the education minister and the state minister for primary education Rosemary Sseninde for their efforts so far.

"Sseninde has started visits to schools which are in a bad state and I commend her for that because supervision has been a missing link in that sector. Majority of the ministers are yet to walk the talk of Hakuna Mchezo. We need new solutions and measures to problems our people are facing like poverty and unemployment," Ssenyonga argued.

It is now more than 100 days ever since the president started this new term on May 12, 2016 and Ugandans are eager to see sporadic changes that will be yielded through the Hakuna Mchezo crusade.

Makerere University economist and political commentator Fred Muhumuza said, "I am yet to see any minister making a mark. Maybe the minister for Kampala because you can see she is struggling to end the conflicts. Others I don't know. I think they are waiting to get directives from the president. That is why for me I don't expect much from our ministers because they are a disenfranchised group."

Muhumuza argued he could not give Kiwanda any credit for the 'rolex' initiative because it is made out of imported products.

"'Rolex' cannot be a tourism attraction. No one can come to Uganda to eat 'rolex'. 'Rolex' is not a Ugandan product. I think Kiwanda should have been a minister for trade not tourism," Muhumuza.