Following a cabinet decision, Government will start implementing the reforms of merging its entities in the next financial year, which starts in July.

The state minister for public service, David Karubanga, told Parliament on Tuesday that the process of rationalising government entities and government expenditures would be carried out in the two financial years of 2021/2022 and 2022/2023.

The minister explained that through the process of downsizing government, it intends to eliminate duplication of responsibilities and eliminating wastage of resources.

Giving the background of the decision, the minister informed the House that in a letter dated July 17, 2017, the President raised concerns about mushrooming government agencies and asked for practical recommendations to rationalise public entities and improve the efficiency of government.

The minister revealed that the Government is ready to compensate the staff who will be affected by the mergers and even pay them gratuity.

Some of the entities under the finance ministry which will be affected include Non-Performing Assets Recovery Tribunal, Departed Asians’ Property Custodian Board, National Lotteries Board, Uganda Properties Holding Ltd, Tax Appeals Tribunal, Uganda Energy Credit and Capitalisation Company Ltd, and Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority.

Most of these and many other entities under the finance ministry will have their duties executed in various departments within the ministry.

Under the trade ministry, entities that will be affected include Uganda Warehouse Receipt Authority, Uganda Investment Authority, Uganda Export Promotion Board and Uganda Free Zones Authority. They will be merged into one authority with specialised directorates.

Under the Justice Law and Order Sector, entities that will be affected include Amnesty Commission, National Citizenship and Immigration Control, Law Reform Commission and Centre for Alternative Dispute.

Under the education sector, entities that will be affected include Kyambogo Teacher Curriculum, National Library of Uganda and Students Financing Board.

The joint inter-ministerial committee working on the merging of government entities has proposed that Kyambogo Teacher Curriculum entity is taken over by the National Curriculum Development Centre.

Other entities under the education ministry which will be affected include the National Council for Higher Education, National Curriculum Development Centre, Uganda Nurses  and Midwifery Examinations Board, Uganda Allied Health Examinations Board, Uganda Business Technical Examinations Board and the Directorate of Industrial Training.

The National Curriculum Development Centre will be merged with the National Council for Higher Education to create the National Council for Education.

Uganda Nurses and Midwifery Examinations Board will be merged with the Uganda Allied Health Examinations Board to create the Uganda Health Professionals Assessment Board.

The Public Service Commission, Health Service Commission and Education Service Commission will be merged into one commission with specialised directorates/departments.

The National Population Secretarial, the Metropolitan Physical Planning Authority, the National Physical Planning Board and the Town and Country Planning Board will be taken over by the National Planning Authority as departments under it.

Under the agriculture ministry, entities to be affected include the National Agricultural Advisory Services, Uganda Coffee Development Authority, Uganda Cotton Development Organisation, the Dairy Development Authority, the Livestock Industries Ltd, Uganda Seeds Ltd and Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation. Their services will be provided by departments under the agriculture ministry.

Under the energy sector, the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company Ltd, the Uganda Electricity Distribution Company Ltd, and the Uganda Electricity Generation Company Ltd will all be merged into one entity of the directorate of energy development which will be under the energy ministry.

The Government has planned to come up with an omnibus Bill by October 2021, which will cause the entities that were established by an Act of Parliament to have ceased to exist.

According to documents seen earlier by New Vision, Cabinet resolved to merge and streamline at least 96 state agencies. Out of the 157 institutions presented to Cabinet for review, it was agreed to retain 61 agencies.

At least 33 entities are to be incorporated back into the parent ministries.

There were nine entities where Cabinet sought technical analysis.

This is after the entities appealed and Cabinet agreed to seek technical analysis.

They included the Uganda Cancer Institute, which Cabinet had resolved to return to Mulago Hospital as a directorate, Uganda Heart Institute, Uganda AIDs Commission, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre, Equal Opportunities Commission, Uganda Human Rights Commission, National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Insurance Regulatory Authority and Uganda Retirement and Benefits Authority.

The plan to merge government agencies was first tabled in 2018, but it was put on hold following questions on how the process will be done.

Some people argued that some of these agencies were established by an Act of Parliament, adding that to scrap them, one needed to go back to Parliament and have the laws repealed.