How UNRA And Agriculture Agencies Survived Abolishment In Rationalisation Bid

For several months, there have been missed reactions within the government set up as the Cabinet moved Bills to rationalise several agencies that were either duplicating roles or were money consuming.

The major purpose of the government from around 2019 when the merger, abolition and taking back to mother ministries some of the statutory agencies was mooted, was to cut the costs of administration.  

Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) , one of the key consumers of the budget on infrastructure development in the country, led the list of top agencies to be closed and taken back to mother Ministries as departments. UNRA, established by an Act of Parliament, boasts of constructing, rehabilitating and maintaining over 20000 kms of roads across the country.

Other known agencies that were set for closure include; Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), the Cotton Development Organisation (CDO), the Diary Development Authority (DDA); National Agriculture Advisory Services (NAADS), and the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U).

While several agencies have now been rationalised, Parliament voted against the closure of UNRA, NAADS, UCDA, CDO, DDA, NIRA and NITA-U among others. The House during plenary sittings presided over by Speaker Anita Among relied on reports presented by the Sectoral Committees that have been carrying out oversight on the Ministries of; Works and Transport; Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries; Information, ICT and National Guidance; and, Internal Affairs.

UNRA survival

Before Parliament was the Uganda National Roads Authority (Repeal) Bill, 2024 which was moved on February 23 by Works and Transport Minister, Gen. Katumba Wamala with a view of taking the functions of the Authority to the mother ministry.

According to the Minister while justifying the Bill then, if successfully passed, the repeal of the UNRA Act would save Shs39b in monthly wages to over 1500 staff. UNRA was supposed to have functions taken back to the Ministry together with those of the Uganda Road Fund which is charged with financing local governments’ roads.

 “UNRA is in effect bigger than the ministry and this is an agency. The ministry staffing is 529 and the bill is Shs17 billion while UNRA’s bill is Shs71b. The Ministry of Works generates policies and the boards of agencies generate policies, that is contradictory. These are two areas commanding in one area. We have three accounting officers in the same ministry; one for Road Fund, UNRA and one for the ministry; – that is wastage of resources,” said Gen. Wamala.

However, Parliament was moved by the findings and observations of the Committee on Physical Infrastructure which was reporting on the UNRA (repeal) Bill, 2024. Committee Chairperson, Dan Kimosho while presenting the report convinced the House that during the 15 years of UNRA’s autonomy, a lot has been achieved, something that was not realised when the Ministry of Works and Transport was in charge of constructing roads. He said that at least 3,686 kms of new national roads have been constructed while the agency has been dealing with maintenance of thousands of kilometers of roads.

 “The role of UNRA in the management, development and maintenance of the national roads infrastructure is critical to the performance of the works and transport sector and the country’s development aspiration in light of Uganda being a transit and land-locked country,” said Kimosho while reading the report.

He added that; the committee is concerned that the government is likely to suffer a setback of delayed project implementation and completion of important and strategic road infrastructure because of the shocks that come with the rationalization process.”

One of the managers of a consultancy firm while speaking on condition of anonymity told this publication that Parliament had saved them from a “troublesome” process of procurement if UNRA was closed. He said that procurement under the Ministry was likely going to be direct with the President ordering through letters on who should take which works.

Saved Agriculture agencies

Currently, the Ministry of Agriculture has seen most of the services it was directly providing moved into the broader Parish Development Model (PDM) implementation. Such services included the seedlings distribution while most of the services are directly carried out by the agencies that have been working autonomously.

The Government had proposed through the Ministry the repeal of the laws that birthed the agencies like UCDA, NAADS, CDO, and the DDA. The justification remains the same as for other agencies whose functions are being reverted to the mother ministries.

Led by Janet Akori-Moe (Abim District Woman MP), the Committee on Agriculture made a strong case to save the four agencies under the Ministry. Making a case for UCDA and DDA, the Committee Chairperson informed Parliament that these two agencies have been paramount in increasing the country’s generation of both domestic and export revenue.

“Under DDA dairy exports have tripled from Shs287.4 billion to Shs976.4 billion between 2019 and 2023. In the financial year 2022/2023, milk powder was the most exported product accounting for 54 percent of the total exports followed by UHT milk at 33.1 percent,” Okori-Moe.

The Committee convinced the House that there is no way the Coffee and Dairy Sector would grow without specialised agencies that monitor production, enforce quality products and also market such products to the international market.

“In all successful coffee producing and exporting countries including Brazil and Vietnam coffee is regulated by a special agency. The civil service mode of operation and service delivery cannot efficiently undertake and deliver this mandate and Uganda is not about to retract from the coffee road map of achieving 20 million bags by 2030,” added Okori-Moe.

While fighting to save NAADs, the Committee insisted that the agency has played a key role in food insecurity and poverty reduction efforts in the country. The Committee report read in part; “cash crops like tea and cocoa which have no regulatory agency are being promoted by NAADS. As a result of NAADS intervention, production in the tea sector has steadily increased with the country producing 81,675 metric tonnes of tea in 2022 worth US$38.36 million”.

The report stated that through NAADs efforts Uganda has become the food basket for the East African region such that about 40 percent of households have achieved a balanced diet and that at least 25 percent of Ugandans achieve three meals per day.

NITA-U saved

The Government had planned to mainstream the functions of NITA-Up to the Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology and National Guidance. However, Legislators voted against the Second Reading of the Bill after debate ensued following the presentation of the report by the Committee on ICT which indicated that NITA-U is not inefficient and should not qualify for rationalisation giving an example of the Shs49b the agency has saved from the budgets of public institutions by reducing the cost of internet.

But as early as February 27, the ICT Committee fought to save NITA-U from being rationalised because it has been doing great in generating revenue.

In a report read by deputy Chairperson, Tony Ayoo recommended to Parliament to reject the passing of the National Information and Technology Authority Amendment Bill 2024 on grounds that NITA-U has not only generated money for Uganda but has also saved public funds as opposed to the Government’s argument that it has spent a lot on administration than bringing cash to the Consolidated Fund. 

 “Instead, it has contributed generously to it. It has not in any way overstretched the capacity of the Government to sustain it as alleged in the memorandum to the Bill. The retention of NITA-U, therefore, outweighs the desire to merge or mainstream it back into the Ministry.The decision to

mainstream NITA-U into the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance therefore should be stayed to allow the institution to continue championing digitization in fulfillment of the Government’s aspirations enshrined in Vision 2040 and the National Development Plan III and IV,” reported Ayoo.

“In light of the aforementioned, and submissions presented therefore, and as summarised, the Committee recommends that NITA-U is retained as a strategic semi-autonomous agency of Government to spearhead the digital transformation programme for socioeconomic development of Uganda and the Bill for dissolution of NITA-U be rejected as a whole,” added part of the report. 

According to Parliament, the Ministry of ICT developed a new structure which provided for 265 new positions with the creation of seven (7) new departments of the Ministry. With the new structure, the Ministry stated that 73 positions would be collapsed when the mainstreaming of NITA-U comes into force by combining its staff and those in the mother ministry.

The Government had argued that, with the mainstreaming of NITA-U into the mother Ministry, the total wage Bill would stand at Shs9.4b against the current wage Bill of Shs18.6b by the two separate institutions. 

NITA-U raises non-tax revenue (NTR) from; provision of permits, licenses and certifications; sale of excess capacity to the private sector players, co-location, internet, leased lines and dark (unused) fibre; Personal Data Protection; registration of data controllers and processors; Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) recoveries; SMS gateway services; and, fines and fees obtained from its services. 

Over 21 major private telecom and SPs are utilising the National Backbone Infrastructure (NBI) built by NITA-U to deliver affordable services even to non-commercially viable areas for private companies.

The Committee noted that the sale of the mentioned services have helped NITA-U to generate in the last 10 years Shs200b in revenue while the next five years’ projections are about Shs185b.

The Committee also reported to the House that a total of Shs1.165 trillion has been saved from the Government expenditure through centralised hosting of critical applications.

“NITA- U has enabled the Government to save up to Shs49b by providing internet bandwidth by reducing costs of internet from USD 70 to USD 35 per megabyte Per second (MBPS), with a projection of a further reduction to USD 20 per Mbps. This translates to an accumulated saving of a total of Shs1.248 trillion,” added part of the report.

Rationalised

Meanwhile, through a two-week process, Parliament has rationalised several agencies after the MPs are convinced that they have not been performing and their functions can better be carried out by the mother ministries.

Under the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, agencies like the National Youth Council, the National Women Council and the National Council for Persons with Disabilities have been rationalised to be handled under one secretariat at the Ministry.

Other agencies that have been rationalised include; the Free Zones Authority; the Warehouse Receipt System Authority; the Uganda Exports Promotions Board; the Uganda Wildlife Conservation Education Centre; the National Commission for UNESCO, among others