Meteorology dept to be autonomous

Kampala

Government has drafted a Bill that will turn the department of meteorology in the Water and Environment ministry into an autonomous body.

The proposed Uganda National Meteorological Agency will be headed by a chief executive officer who will be answerable to the minister of water and environment.

“The agency shall, subject to the declared policy of the government and except as is otherwise provided in this Act, be independent in the performance of its functions and duties and exercise of its powers and shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or organ,” the draft Bill Daily Monitor has seen, reads in part.

Council numbers
The agency shall also have a council as its governing body which will consist of seven members appointed by the minister with the approval of cabinet.

However, during the review of the draft Bill in Kampala last week, stakeholders proposed amendments to the Bill before it is enacted into law.

Some stakeholders suggested that the agency gets a board of directors rather than a council. Mr Jackson Rwakishaija, the senior communications officer at the Department of Meteorology, said the Bill will empower the agency to be the sole authority on meteorological matters like issuing regular weather forecasts.

Proposed punishments
According to the Bill, any person who vandalises equipment or any other instrument installed by the agency will have committed an office and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding Shs960,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

Recently, government doubted the meteorological department’s ability to predict weather patterns, saying it needed to be strengthened.
The department has over the past years failed to function well as it has failed to provide the right weather and/or climatic patterns and this has made the public have low confidence in its operations.