Govt Blamed On Missions Closure

MEMBERS of Parliament have said the Government erred when it closed Uganda’s embassies in Germany and Japan, among other countries.Richard Mutumba reports that the chairperson of the House committee on presidential and foreign affairs, James Nsaba Buturo, and the committee members, blamed the Government on Thursday when scrutinising the policy statement and the 2002/03 budget for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.“The Federal Republic of Germany is the leading foreign investor in the world, while Japan is the biggest donor. We wouldn’t have moved out of these countries in any case,” foreign minister James Wapakhabulo said in support of the MPs.The MPs said officials in the Ministry of Finance misled the President to close the embassies in Bonn, Tokyo and Paris, among others.“Whoever misled the President should be held accountable because this was a grave mistake,” Salaam Musumba said.“It was a misconceived move to close these missions, and this is why we are reopening all of them,” Wapakhabulo said. The minister said for political and economic reasons, the Government had found it necessary to re-open the Tokyo mission. He said plans were underway to re-open embassies in Berlin, Paris, the Hague and Tehran. Justifying the re-opening of the Tokyo mission, Wapakhabulo said Japan was the biggest donor country in the world, while at the same time Uganda imported a lot of manufactured goods, especially vehicles from there. He said the country had a lot of potential for trade and investment.He also said Germany was the leading foreign investor in the world and by closing the mission in Bonn, Uganda was likely to lose investment opportunities.Wapakhabulo’s policy statement the ministry would need more than sh3b to reopen the Berlin, Paris, The Hague and Tehran embassies.He said there was no budget for the missions this financial year. Germany, the Netherlands, France and Iran have full diplomatic ties with Uganda.Ends