On October 17, 2023, the Minister of State for Finance (General Duties), Henry Musasizi, expressed his disagreement with a petition from the National Youth Council (NYC) challenging the merger of secretariats for various special interest groups. Musasizi argued that the merger would not have a negative financial impact on the activities of these interest groups.
While speaking before the House Committee on Gender, Labour, and Social Development, chaired by Hon. Flavia Kabahenda, the Kyegegwa District Woman MP, Musasizi stated, “Honestly speaking, there are agencies that were simply milking money from the Consolidated Fund, which we looked at as the reason for rationalization, but there were those which were income generating we said should stay.”
The petition presented by the youth to Parliament in July 2023 expressed concerns that the merger would exacerbate the already high youth unemployment rate. The NYC secretariat was merged with the National Women’s Council, National Children Authority, National Council for Persons with Disabilities, and National Council for Older Persons into one secretariat.
The NYC proposed that if the government aimed to reduce costs, it should consider reducing the number of Members of Parliament representing youths and cabinet ministers representing special interest groups. The petition suggested, “The cabinet decision would work best by reconsidering the number of MPs representing these special interest groups, limiting it to only national representation to enable all monies spent on them as remuneration and allowances to run other activities affecting the groups.”
Minister Musasizi explained that the merger of secretariats aimed to reduce administrative costs for efficiency without reducing the budget. He assured the committee that funding for each group would not decrease as a result of the merger. He stated, “The merging of the secretariats will not reduce the budget; no one will lose money. We are still giving the NYC Shs4 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year and in the next year that we have started budgeting for.”
Hon. Kabahenda raised questions regarding the government’s assessment of the social and economic impact of rationalizing all the secretariats. She inquired about plans to compensate for potential unemployment and whether this might marginalize already marginalized groups. She also questioned the government’s ability to monitor activities with reduced secretariats while maintaining the same budget.
Hon. Rosemary Nyakikongoro observed that reducing the size of secretariats while maintaining the same budget for programs might create a deficit in supervision. She expressed concerns about the Equal Opportunities Commission, which saw staff reduced from six to one.
Minister Musasizi noted that the government estimated savings of administrative costs amounting to Shs300 billion from the rationalization of all secretariats.
