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Parliament will start debating the proposal to merge government agencies next week, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has said.

Nabbanja made the revelation on Thursday, February 8, 2024, during the plenary as she was updating Parliament on the business the executive will table before it.

Nabbanja indicated that the mergers will start with the tabling of rationalisation Bills for sectors of works and transport, natural resources and environment, education, and internal affairs.

According to the Premier, the Government will also be tabling the Constitutional Amendment Bill, the National Tribunal Bill 2023, Uganda Health Professional Regulatory Council Bill 2023, and the Karamoja Development Agency Repeal Bill 2024, among others.

The revelation comes a week after the National Resistance Movement Party parliamentary caucus resolved to support the rationalisation of government agencies and public expenditure through the enactment of legislation in Parliament, sector by sector.

Saving over sh1 trillion

Government chief whip Dennis Hamson Obua (Ajuri county) on Friday, February 2, 2024, said the rationalisation is poised at strengthening departments of ministries and making them more functional as opposed to duplication of services.

“When we rationalise, we shall save the public some expenditure to a tune of over shillings one trillion as mentioned in the presentation of the minister of public service. The gist of rationalisation is; one, to avoid duplication of services where you have the mainstream ministry with a department and there is again an independent or autonomous agency, authority or commission doing more or less the same work,” he said.

Background

The development comes two months after a heated Parliament chaired by Speaker Anita Annet Among rejected an omnibus Bill titled “Rationalisation of Government Agencies (Repeals and Amendments) Bill 2023.”

Key among those that were supposed to be dissolved was the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) which was to be mainstreamed into the Works Ministry alongside the Uganda Road Fund (URF).

The others on the chopping block, included the National Forestry Authority (NFA), Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA), Diary Development Authority (DDA), and Equal Opportunity Commission (EOP). The latter was to be merged with the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) simply because they reportedly almost play the same role.