Kampala, (UG):- President Museveni has signed into law nine bills that were passed by Parliament with the overall aim at streamlining operations, improving efficiency and cutting costs across the respective sectors of agriculture, education, infrastructure and technology.
The Principal Private Secretary working at the Office of the President, Ms Gloria Asio Omaswa confirmed the development in a statement released Wednesday, December 18, 2024.
According to Omaswa’s statement, the President assented into law nine Rationalisation of Government Agencies and Public Expenditure (RAPEX) Acts including the Higher Education Students Financing (Amendment) Act, 2024, which aims at mainstreaming functions of the Higher Education Students’ Financing Board (HESFB) into the Ministry of Education and Sports with the overall intention of giving effect to the government policy on rationalisation as well as the National Commission for UNESCO (Amendment) Act, 2024.
Parliament previously reconsidered and passed the two respective 2024 Bills of Higher Education Students Financing (Amendment) and the National Commission for UNESCO (Amendment) on September 26, following concerns raised by the President.
Section 43 (6) of the Higher Education Students Financing (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the president proposed should be deleted and further suggested that staff be retired and compensated upon abolition of office.
According to Section 43 (6) of the Bill, it read that staff of the Higher Education Students Financing Board may be redeployed to serve in the public service, subject to availability of positions.
In the UNESCO Bill, the President did not welcome the idea of having the Uganda National Commission for UNESCO as a department, preferring to have it instead as a unit.
The other Bills, the Head of State signed into law were the Uganda Road Refund (Amendment) Act, 2024, which will see transfer of the administration of Uganda Road Fund to the Ministry of Works and Transport and Uganda National Roads Authority (Repeal) Act, 2024, where now the mainstreaming of functions of the Uganda National Roads Authority will be conducted by the Ministry of Works and Transport.
The Cotton Development (Amendment) Act, 2024, which the President also assented to will now see the mainstreaming and rationalisation of the functions of the Cotton Development Organisation (CDO) into the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries.
Mr Museveni further assented into law the National Agricultural Advisory Services (Amendment) Act, 2024, the Dairy Industry (Amendment) Act, 2024, the National Information Technology Authority (NITA), Uganda (Amendment) Act, 2024 and the Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2024.
Earlier this year, in February, a section of Opposition Members of Parliament led by the Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Mr Joel Ssenyonyi tried reasoning some entities should be given a second chance because of the critical roles they play in the country. There was also a concern, among other opposition lawmakers, that many government employees would lose their jobs following the merger.
The hotly contested bills were later passed by Parliament before they were forwarded to President Museveni for assent.
Nine Bills signed into law
- The Higher Education Students Financing (Amendment) Act, 2024
- The National Commission for UNESCO (Amendment) Act, 2024
- The Uganda Road Refund (Amendment) Act, 2024
- The Uganda National Roads Authority (Repeal) Act, 2024
- The Cotton Development (Amendment) Act, 2024
- The National Agricultural Advisory Services (Amendment) Act, 2024,
- The Dairy Industry (Amendment) Act, 2024
- The National Information Technology Authority (NITA), Uganda (Amendment) Act, 2024
- The Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2024.
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