{UAH} Govt jobs: NRM cadres’ lifeline
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For many politicians in Uganda, losing a major election or otherwise leaving office is a ticket to the indignity of political oblivion and hard times.
But the story is different for many loyalists of the ruling National Resistance Movement. A closer look at many public offices shows that they are staffed with NRM cadres who have been rejected by voters or have otherwise left politics. In most cases, these are jobs where the appointing authority is the president or his ministers.
Defeated NRM loyalists have bounced back to head foreign missions, statutory authorities, public corporations, constitutional bodies and commissions or, are presidential advisers. While this practice of the revolving door or ruling-party politics and public service is not peculiar to Uganda, there are concerns that it could hold back efforts to build meritocratic service delivery machinery.
Out of 20 heads of statutory authorities surveyed, five are former NRM politicians. These include former Mityana North MP Gordon Sematiko, now executive secretary of the National Drug Authority. Dr Kisamba Mugerwa, a former minister and MP for Bamunanika, the current chairperson of the National Planning Authority. His deputy is Dr Abel Rwendeire also a former minister.
These are but few examples (See table for more names). But President Museveni has told NRM cadres before that there was life beyond elective politics.
In a 2010 opinion published in the New Vision, Museveni said: "The NRM cadres that have already been identified do not have to think that the electoral offices are the only possible assignments…cadres can be useful to the party and the country even when they are not in elective offices."
Cadre service?
The practice of recruiting former politicians is not only in Uganda, but also many western democracies. According to Dr Sabiti Makara, a lecturer of Public Administration at Makerere University, there is no problem with this as long as it is done within the law.
Still questions would arise, if these people are qualified to hold the jobs they are appointed to, and whether they can separate between serving the public interest and serving the appointing authority.
Writing in Sunday Monitor recently, Harold Acemah, a retired diplomat, blamed the appointment of political diplomats to missions abroad for the decline of Uganda's Foreign Service.
"With due respect most of these non-career political Ambassadors and High Commissioners, who have represented Uganda abroad since 1986, have done more harm than good to the image and especially the national interests of Uganda," Acemah wrote.
Arguing that before 1986, entry to the Foreign Service was based on merit, Acemah described the current approach as a "disgrace and unacceptable".
Qualified cadres
In defence of the status quo, Ofwono Opondo, the executive director of Uganda Media Centre, told The Observer the president was right to appoint his cadres since it was in accordance with the law, arguing, also, that people should not be denied jobs simply because they are former NRM politicians.
"What can only be asked is whether he has appointed the right people. I think they are the right people because they have the qualifications," he told The Observer.
Dr Abel Rwendeire, also a former minister, went a step further: "We hold these jobs based on individual competence. And, as a matter of fact, we have been offered better opportunities elsewhere but we opt to serve the nation."
However, Makara argues that in a developing political system, the power to appoint can easily become a tool for the incumbent to practise patronage politics – giving people jobs to losing politicians to keep the quiet and away from the opposition. If that becomes a driving motive, Makara argues, competence will be the last consideration.
Some of the ex-NRM politicians in govt jobs
| Politician | Former position | Currently... |
| Janat Mukwaya | MP Mukono South | Uganda Land Commission |
| Kintu Musoke | Prime Minister & MP | Senior Presidential Advisor |
| Benina Mukiibi | Kibale Woman MP & state minister for Public Service | Member, Bank of Uganda board |
| Dr Kisamba Mugerwa | MP Bamunanika & Agriculture minister | Chairperson, National Planning Authority |
| Dr Philip Byaruhanga | MP Buruli County & junior Local Government minister | Chair, National Medical Stores board |
| Gordon Sematiko | MP Mityana North | Executive Secretary, National Drug Authority |
| Beatrice Byenkya | Hoima Woman MP | Member, National Citizenship and Immigration Board |
| Winfred Masiko | Woman MP for Rukungiri | Uganda Land Commission |
| Beatrice Lagada | Woman MP for Lira | Member, Kyambogo University Council |
| Baguma Isoke | MP Buyanja & state minister, Lands | Chair, Uganda Land Commission |
| Ibrahim Kaddunabbi Lubega | MP Butambala | CEO, Insurance Regulatory Authority |
| Jane Akwero Odwong | Woman MP Kitgum | Member, National Citizenship and Immigration Board |
| Mondo Kagonyera | Agriculture minister & Rubabo MP | Makerere University Chancellor |
| Mary Amajo | Woman MP Kaberamaido | President's principal private secretary |
| Jovino Akaki Ayumu | Maruzi MP & state minister for wildlife | Chair, Uganda Trypanosomiasis Control Council |
| Ezra Suruma | Finance minister | Presidential Advisor |
| Dorothy Hyuha | Woman MP Butaleja | High Commissioner to TZ |
| Grace Akello | Woman MP Katakwi | Ambassador, France |
| Moses Kizige | MP, Bugabula North | Presidential advisor |
| Kirunda Kivejinja | Bugweri MP & Internal Affairs minister | Presidential advisor |
| Betty Akech Okullu | Minister of state for Higher Education | Ambassador China |
| Oliver Wonekha | Woman MP Bududa | Ambassador, the US |
| Matayo Kyaligonza | MP Buhaguzi | Ambassador, Burundi |
| Dr Richard Nduhura | Igara East MP & junior Health minister | Permanent Representative to the UN, New York |
| Dr Specioza Wandira Kazibwe | Vice President & MP Kigulu South | Presidential advisor, recently named UN ambassador |
| Margaret Mbeiza | Woman MP Kaliro | RDC, Mayuge |
| Agaba Abbas | NRM Youth League chairman & contestant in Eala elections | RDC, Serere |
| Herman Ssentongo | LC-V chairman of Ssembabule | RDC, Yumbe |
| Alintuma Nsambu | Bukoto South MP | Head of mission, Embassy in Asmara, Eritrea |
| Stephen Mubiru | LC-V chairperson, Kamuli | Head, mission in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Med S.K Kaggwa | MP Kawempe South | Chair, Uganda Human Rights Commission |
| Katenta Apuuli | CA delegate | Head, mission in Brussels |
| Zake Kibedi | Youth MP Eastern Uganda | Youth MP Eastern Uganda |
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