Magyezi promises to 'bite'

Magyezi, Butime and Namuyangu at the hand-over ceremony. Photos by Godiver Asege

ACCOUNTABILITY

The Minister for Local government, Raphael Magyezi, has said he would not tolerate corruption in the ministry.

He stated that fighting corruption is one of the six assignments President Yoweri Museveni gave the recently appointed ministers at their swearing-in ceremony at State House, Entebbe, on Monday.

"The president appointed us to help him fight corruption. He said corruption is unacceptable and it is a disservice to the people," Magyezi said after receiving the instruments of office from Tom Butime. Butime was redeployed to the ministry of tourism, wildlife, and antiquities in the recent reshuffle.

"Several reports by Transparency International have shown that local governments are not transparent. Of course, there are other institutions like the police which are already ahead of us in corruption. But are not doing well," he added.

The other five assignments the president gave the ministers, Magyezi said, include working to maintain the stability of the country, helping the president to fight corruption, taking the Government closer to the people, promoting youth involvement in leadership and development and improving the performance of ministries.

"The source of the government's stability is in the local governments. The foundation of the Government is in the local governments. We need to make local governments stable," Magyezi stated.

He promised to steer through amendments in the existing laws to provide that a certain percentage of the national budget be allocated to local governments each financial year and empower the districts to retain part of the royalties collected from natural resources.

"I will manage because I already touched the top of a certain mountain," Magyezi added. He is the architect of the constitutional amendment that eliminated the upper age limit for the president. 

Magyezi said his professional journey begun when he was deployed as a statistician planner for the Mukono district in 1992 and later worked at the decentralization secretariat in 1996.

He explained that he served as the secretary-general at the local government association from 1998, and resigned in 2010. Magyezi, the MP for Igara West, has been the chairperson for the public service and local government committee in Parliament.

Butime handed to Magyezi a report and other documents, including the local government law and policies. Butime asked Magyezi to lobby the finance ministry to provide resources to operationalize sub-counties and town councils which are not yet operational. He also asked him to resolve the existing boundary disputes between some districts.

Additional reporting by Daphrose Byiringiro