| Cabinet takes shape | ||||||||||||||||||
| SIMON KASYATE | ||||||||||||||||||
Museveni considering those who are competent and corruption-free KAMPALA After intensive interviews with dozens of people President Museveni has been consulting for the last two months over the impending ministerial appointments, Sunday Monitor now pieces together the next Cabinet due to be announced anytime, attaching the lucky individuals as closely to their intended portfolios as possible. The three main factors behind the composition of the new Cabinet are a corruption-free image, gender in favour of women and youth, and the capacity to deliver on the manifesto promises. The Cabinet and Parliament were dissolved on Thursday ahead of Mr Museveni’s swearing in for a third elected term on Friday. The new MPs will be sworn in on Tuesday, and a new Cabinet will be named anytime after that date. The country is going to wind up with a Cabinet that is nearly 50 percent women who are also thought to be free of grand corruption. Anybody mentioned in the Global Fund scandal can kiss the Cabinet goodbye, whether eventually found guilty or not. And historical ties to the NRM, whether political or military, will not save the job of anyone tainted. Mr Museveni’s recent persistent remarks about corruption were apparently meant to prepare his long-term colleagues with soiled reputations for the sack. The ethnic and religious arithmetic also has to be balanced out and to that end, outgoing House Speaker Edward Ssekandi is the most likely new Vice President. The position is reserved for a Catholic following an unwritten agreement between Museveni and Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala. That Catholic at the moment can only come from the east or central regions because the President himself is from the west and the north simply cannot be rewarded with the number two job in the land after overwhelmingly rejecting the NRM at the February 23 poll. Ssekandi’s deputy, Ms Rebecca Kadaga, has been Museveni’s favourite for the job of VP but she is Anglican, just like the President. Outgoing VP Gilbert Bukenya is likely to miss the post because Museveni has decided to make no exception to whoever was mentioned in the Global Fund mess as the VP was, and also on account of his rather reckless public claim last year that the government had been hijacked by mafia ministers. The Prime Minister is expected to be Mr Amama Mbabazi, the Secretary General of the NRM and outgoing Defence minister, who has served in almost all key sectors of the government. Mbabazi is a workaholic teetotaller and strategist who has been the brains behind virtually all policy positions of the government. His loyalty to Museveni and the NRM is said to be “100 percent unquestionable and Museveni seems to have decided to let the man officially lead the government which he has in a way been doing for several years”, a source familiar with the thinking in State House said. Another important factor behind Mbabazi’s elevation is that Museveni is so determined to commit himself more to the East African Federation and he would be leaving the government in safe hands with Mbabazi as premier. And in case of leaving the presidency altogether in 2011, Mbabazi would also be a credible successor. Insiders say if there is one legacy Museveni wants to leave behind, it is the cementing of the federation. If it is not realised by 2013, he is determined to ensure that by 2011, the process will have reached a legally irreversible stage. Historicals The post of minister for Parliamentary Affairs, which both women have held before, will not obtain under the multi-party setting. Should party officials also be allowed to hold Cabinet positions, then Mwesigye may well remain a minister and so will Secretary General Mbabazi. The largely youthful Cabinet will retain some five or so NRM Historicals. Besides Mbabazi, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda will stay in a senior ministerial post. Not only is he “clean as a whistle” in terms of personal and financial integrity, Rugunda is also highly loyal to the NRM. When he was asked not to stand for Parliament in 2001, he did not and when he was asked to lead the NRM electoral commission which ensured he would again not be able to stand, he complied, all in the interest of Movement politics. Another historical figure to be retained is Dr Crispus Kiyonga, most likely in the Health Ministry, which he has headed before. His profile has since been boosted by his role in co-founding the Geneva-based Global Fund. His recent role of National Political Commissar expired with the advent of multi-party politics. There is also no record of corruption under his name. Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire will also be retained because Museveni regards him as an effective implementer. Otafiire, the outgoing minister of Lands, Water and Environment, is also a consistent big winner of elections and is therefore an NRM asset in Bushenyi. While the UN report on Congo mentioned him, Uganda trashed the report and the plainspoken Otafiire does therefore not officially fall in the category of tainted ministers. Mr John Nasasira, the outgoing minister of Works, Housing and Communications is rated a good performer and is generally free of the graft bug. He is among those old faces poised to bounce back. The real survivor of the impending changes is the once censured outgoing Foreign Affairs Minister Sam Kuteesa. He has his close ties to the presidency, and being at the heart of organising the crucial Commonwealth Summit slated for late next year, keeping him at this stage is highly sensible. Busoga’s grand old man Ali Kirunda Kivejinja is set to remain in the largely youthful Cabinet. A historical in every sense of the word, Kivejinja will be rewarded for trouncing “that troublesome Abdu Katuntu” of the opposition FDC. He may now be physically weak but the NRM flame burns brightly in him and he will be appointed to a less taxing ministry. Generally, the Busoga region will remain intact in Cabinet and the likes of Daudi Migereko and Igeme Nabeta are assured of staying put - maybe even at their current Ministry of Trade. According to the sources, the former Defence State Minister Ruth Nankabirwa will be promoted to full minister. This will be possible because the ministry has a very strong permanent secretary in the person of Brig. Noble Mayombo. “Actually keeping Amama and Mayombo in the same ministry is regarded as a waste of two competent and reliable cadres,” said a source. “Yet the promotion of Ms Nankabirwa is also in line with affirmative action - to have women at the helm of some key government ministries. But Nankabirwa has also had a considerable amount of experience as a junior minister in Defence.” Saleh for micro-finance The Department of Information under the President’s Office will be phased out and a new structure put in place to be called Information Communications Technology. Media Centre Director Robert Kabushenga is highly billed to be appointed minister of state for ICT, while former Information Minister Nsaba Buturo will move to Ethics and Integrity. Dr Buturo, the only minister from Kisoro who made it back to Parliament, however, will not be lonely in Cabinet as home boy Tress Bucyanayandi is likely to be appointed state minister for agriculture. One or two former Cabinet ministers who disagreed with the President on lifting of term limits could also make it back. Amongst former First Deputy Prime Minister Eriya Kategaya, Energy Minister Richard Kaijuka and Ethics and Integrity Minister Miria Matembe expect at least one minister. The President, in a bid to strengthen the NRM party for posterity, will this time round incorporate the youth into Cabinet so the younger people can identify easily with the party. So other than Kabushega, expect to see new Kamwenge MP Frank Tumwebaze. Other youthful ministers in the previous Cabinet who made it back to Parliament will also be retained, Nabeta being one such. Most female faces in the previous Cabinet are most likely to make it back. They are likely to be joined by Bushenyi Woman MP Mary Okurut and former Kampala District Woman MP Margaret Zziwa. Affirmative action will also play a big role in regional sharing of ministerial appointments. According to sources, even regions that did not vote for President Museveni will be considered. “That is why at least one of the women ministers from Teso who did not make it back will be appointed,” the source said. “From Teso, also expect Musa Ecweru on that list.” |
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