New Cabinet: Fresh start or old wine in new bottles?

President Museveni’s new Cabinet shows an attempt to shake things up but the delicate balancing act of trying to keep loyalists on the table reveals how harder this exercise keeps becoming – and why it has taken the President two weeks to announce it.

The biggest – and some will say freshest – surprises are those of Maria Kiwanuka, the media entrepreneur (and wife of property magnate Mohan Kiwanuka) who comes in to run Finance, as well as Engineer Irene Muloni brought in to run Energy after running the country’s power distribution firm.

Coming off a week in which the country got a new Vice President, Speaker of Parliament and Prime Minister, the new Cabinet promised plenty of new faces.

However, while 30 out of the 46 names (63 per cent) announced last night are new, the list evokes a sense of political déjà vu.
First, the key ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs saw no changes at full or state minister level while Eriya Kategaya and Henry Kajura kept their positions as First and Second Deputy PM as well as their East African and Public Service portfolios.
In fact, seven out of the 29 full Cabinet ministers kept the jobs and portfolios, alongside 16 out of the 20 state ministers.
As expected, Amelia Kyambadde, the President’s trusted long-term secretary made it to Cabinet as Trade minister.

Affirmative action
First Lady Janet Museveni kept her Karamoja docket but was elevated to full Cabinet minister – marking the first time an affirmative action ministry was elevated alongside its occupant.

Perhaps the best way to read into the Cabinet is to look at those moved. John Nasasira, easily the least popular of the batch in Kampala because of the poor state of the city’s roads – and despite fixing a lot of the roads upcountry – lost his coveted Works and Transport ministry to become Government Chief Whip.

Kahinda Otafiire, who has been as quiet as a bull in a china shop – and who has never been accused of efficiency – has been saved from himself by being relocated from Trade, Tourism and Industry to the straightjacket of the Justice Ministry.
Kabakumba Matsiko, whose stint Information Minister is best described as an avoidable mistake, has also been saved from herself by being put in charge of the Presidency – a promotion that defies all predictions.

Those demoted include Khiddu Makubuya whose stint as Attorney General will always be remembered for his dodgy legal advice over Dr Kizza Besigye’s candidature in the 2006 election while Dr Stephen Mallinga, celebrated when first appointed, leaves the Health Ministry with a reputation for sleeping on the job.

The biggest surprise is Nasser Ntege Ssebagala, the outgoing Mayor of Kampala. He might have no portfolio but his appointment shows that he is a man of many political lives – and neither permanent friends nor enemies.
We live in pragmatic times, after all.