Parliament gives Government work on rationalisation of agencies Bills

Bukanga North Member of Parliament, Nathan Byanyima should consider himself a short-time winner after the Government withdrew 10 Bills aimed at rationalizing several agencies as a way of cutting on public expenditure.

Byanyimwa was overruled by Speaker Anita Among, recently when he pleaded to Parliament to go slow on processing the Bills in which the government was seeking merger of agencies and also abolishing others. He told fellow legislators that while they sleep for long hours; he spends nine hours for every night “thinking about Uganda” and voices like his must be listened to.

Indeed, when 11 of the Bills came up for second reading on February 27, only one rationalization Bill was passed while the 10 Bills were withdrawn from the Sectoral Committees that were scrutinizing them. Only the National Archives Amendment Bill, 2024 was approved after it was revealed by Public Service Minister, Wilson Muruli Mukasa that the National Archives agency has never been operational for nearly two decades hence the functions being handled by the Ministry.

In the same fold, the Constitution Amendment Bill, 2024 in which the government wants to merge the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) and the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has been stuck on the table of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee. This, after lawmakers sitting on the Committee raised a red flag against the inconsistencies in the Certificate of Financial Implication, saying it did not show details of the income and expenditure.

Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister Nobert Mao, Public Service Minister Wilson Muruli Mukasa and Attorney General Miryowa Kiwanuka were asked by the Committee to go back and prepare the right Certificate of Financial Implication before the Bills are processed.  The other Bill that could not be processed by the Committee is the Arbitration and Conciliation Bill, 2024, whose objective is to give effect to the Government Policy for Rationalisation of Government Agencies and Public Expenditure.

On Tuesday February 27, State Minister for Finance (General Duties), Henry Musasizi acknowledge the gaps in most of the Certificates, telling Parliament that they were being delivered to the Speaker’s Office after being corrected.

“During the process of consideration of the Bills, an issue arose regarding providing the Committees with information indicating the estimates of revenue and expenditures after the coming into effect of the Bills. We agreed that in compliance with this process, information about all this should be provided. As we talk now, the information is being delivered to your office,” said Musasizi.

Withdrawn Bills

Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka for almost an hour fought a losing battle to defend the government position that the Bills aimed at rationalizing agencies in 10 different sectors be processed despite being moved jointly per sector. Each sector has more than two Bills in which the government seeks to either merge or abolish agencies with functions those abolished being transferred to the mother ministries.

Speaker Among was also standing with the Attorney General’s position of processing the Bills in the Committees so that any anomalies are addressed in the Committee reports. However, the fight against what they called an “illegality” was championed by Shadow Attorney General, Wilfred Niwagaba; Kira Municipality MP, Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda; and, Deputy Chairperson of Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Yusuf Mutembuli.

NITA-U survives the cut

Meanwhile, on February 28, Parliament blocked the move to abolish the National Information Technology Authority, Uganda (NITA-U).

The Government had planned to mainstream the functions of NITA-U 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 to qualify for rationalisation giving an example of the UGX 49 billion the agency has saved from the budgets of public institutions by reducing the cost of internet.

The ICT Committee 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 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 UGX 9.414 billion against the current wage Bill of UGX 18.619 billion 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 UGX 200 billion in revenue while the next five years’ projections are about UGX 185 billion.

The Committee also reported to the House that a total of UGX 1.165 trillion has been saved from the Government expenditure through centralised hosting of critical applications.

NITA- U has enabled the Government to save up to UGX 49 billion 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 UGX 1.248trillion, added part of the report.

The ICT Committee faulted the Ministry of ICT for doing a shabby job during its attempts to have roles of NITA mainstreamed back to the Ministry, citing block figures provided in terms of the projected wage bill and the projected savings, noting that the figures provided did not have specific estimates for the revenue and expenditure for the rationalisation on NITA-U.

The Ministry was unable to provide the Committee with the details on the breakdown of the actual amounts that would be needed for the terminal benefits and severance pay for staff and Board members, the new salary scales for the new structure of the Ministry and the cost of administering the operations and functions following the merger. The Ministry made mention of the projected salary of a Commissioner, who would be the Head of aDepartment estimated at UGX 12 million. This however, was not documented, noted Ayoo while presenting the report.

The other ground upon which mainstreaming of NITA-U was blocked was on the certificate of financial implication provided by the Ministry of ICT which was found to have inadequacies since it lacked estimations of the revenue and expenditure for at least two years, with Ayoo arguing that the document provided made it harder for the Committee to evaluate the alleged drain by NITA-U on the consolidated fund and the saving that would arise from the mainstreaming NITA-U.

Ayoo informed Parliament that the Ministry did not provide any information to demonstrate that the mainstreaming of NITA-U into the Ministry will create an efficient and successful management of the projects and effectively implement them.

Endorsing the Bill would cause a disruption to critical government of Uganda systems such as e-migration systems that have enabled seamless issuance of passports, visas and work permits, and the Performance Budgeting Systems (PBS) and Government Payment Systems (IFMIS). The Committee was cognisant of the fact that the advancement in technology does not allow a single disruption as it can generate potential damage to a host of programs and livelihoods forever and it will take long to recover. Such disruption is unwarranted, said Ayoo.

MPs speak tough

Public Service Minister, Wilson Muruli Mukasa who is charged with the coordination of the rationalisation process fought a losing battle during the debate that ensued after the presenting of the Committee report. He failed to present a report from a study conducted by a team of experts on each of the agencies that the Government wants to either close or merge with another. 

Dan Kimosho, Kazo County MP, wondered why the Government would ask Parliament to back the closure of NITA-U yet all the three grounds to justify rationalisation hadn’t been met by the Ministry of ICT.

“Those tasked with the job of rationalization and mergers have either not done a good and thorough job, and what it will take for the economy, or they are deliberately misleading the country to lead us in a situation where we can’t sustain policy reversal that we are undertaking as a country.

 It will really look very awkward, we shall be held accountable as a Parliament; Ugandans will not forgive us that at a time where the economy is going very badly, we can be part of the group that can sanction more draining of the economy by passing a policy that doesn’t justify or even prove any benefit to this country. I beg and support that the NITA Uganda Amendment Bill be rejected,” he added.

Bugweri County MP, Abdu Katuntu who was the Vice Chairperson on Parliament’s Ad hoc Committee that looked into the proposed merger of Government Mergers weighed in on the proposal to mainstream NITA-U. The Ad hoc Committee report has never been debated though its recommendations that seek to save most of the targeted agencies in the current rationalisation process.

Katuntu said that he didn’t find the report from the ICT Committee shocking, revealing that when the issue of rationalization was handled in 2022, it was discovered that the whole process didn’t have a study and challenge the Minister Muruli Mukusa to lay any study about this whole process and called on all Committees handling these processes, to ask the respective Ministers to put the study on the table.

 “There are three reasons for rationalization, one is efficiency. Are you telling me that the mainstream ministries are better than these agencies? We know the mainstream ministries, those who put their coats on the chairs and disappear and come back at 5Pm, we know them. I don’t think the mainstreamed ministries are more efficient than some of these agencies,” said Katuntu.

 Katuntu also punched holes in the justification of duplication that was slapped against NITA-U by the Government saying the issues of reported inefficiency of the agency have not been well articulated. 

 “I haven’t heard anywhere where the Minister has explained how efficient the Ministry wants to revert this institution is nowhere. Let us look at duplication. Where is the duplication in all this? We just want details, what isn’t correct especially by the Ministers is for you to just come and cite a cabinet decision. So what if Cabinet decided? You must now justify that cabinet decision to us and that is what we have been waiting for,” he added.

MP Jane Avur Pacuto a member of the Committee on National Economy also reminded Parliament of the recent loans processed to be utilised by NITA-U, adding that if rationalised, the funders will withdraw their cash because the financing agreements do not have the Ministry of ICT as the implementing agency.

“This Parliament of Uganda has passed two loans to the Ministry of the ICT and the loans we processed in Committee on National Economy, is a conditional loan and it is there on record of Parliament, that they must be implemented by NITA-U, short of that, the lender will withdraw. That is a contractual obligation between the government and the lender. Now, at this time the same Parliament goes around to say let’s rationalise NITA-U. I want to stand here and say that I will not oppose rationalization of some entities but for NITA-U we need to stay it,” she argued.

Avur also made the case for the increase in the NTA being collected by NITA-U every financial year, adding that the proposed mainstreaming would deal a major blow on this in-flow hence a need to leave the entity with its independence.

“In FY 2019/20 NITA-U was able to generate UGX 18.944 billion to Consolidated Fund, in the 2020/21 it generated UGX 21.138 billion, 2021/22, NITA-U on increasing trend, generated UGX 25.582 billion, 2022/23 generated UGX 45.5 billion. In 2023/24, it is projected because there is mostly likely to be an increase in demand for the services of NITA-U in areas of internet, UGX 53.04 billion;  in 2024/25 it is projected UGX 64.735 billion; in 2025/26 it is projected to increase to UGX 75.614 billion,” she said.

Such sentiments rhymed with the views of the Committee where the MPs also cited the initial mainstreaming of Rural Electrification Agency (REA)  that was mainstreamed with a clear transition and implementation plan but the instrument was not fully implemented as the staff were not fully absorbed into the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development. This rushed decision ended up disrupting all the running projects with immediate mitigation measures and the MPs feel that any attempt to repeat the similar mistake by closing NITA-U will cause problems to the ICT Ministry.

After the debate, Minister Muruli Mukasa unsuccessfully convinced Parliament to give the Government more time to provide the correct information about the need to mainstream NITA-U hence the House putting the Bill to a vote.

When the Speaker Among put the question on whether the National Information Technology Authority Amendment Bill 2024 should be read for the second time, those against took the day hence the House voting to save NITA-U during a plenary sitting attended by 224 MPs. Such a vote only needed a quorum of 176 MPs to be legitimate.