UN General Assembly to have final say on Entebbe matter – Government

Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told Parliament Wednesday afternoon that the United Nations General Assembly will discuss the matter -latest June- and the government will now intensify the lobbying. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Secretary-general Guterres, in a May 1 report to UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), wrote recommending Kenya’s capital Nairobi as an alternative host, with the two other recommended locations being the Hungarian capital, Budapest and Mexico City, the Mexican capital.

The government on Wednesday insisted that it will still lobby to persuade the United Nations Secretary General- Antonio Guterres to change his decision of dropping Entebbe as the UN regional service centre in favour of Nairobi.

Allaying fears that the government is fighting a losing battle in the bid to rescind the proposed relocation, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda told Parliament Wednesday afternoon that the United Nations General Assembly will discuss the matter -latest June- and the government will now intensify the lobbying.

“No decision has been taken regarding this matter. The UN will be discussing this matter and we expect that around the next two months or in the course of June, the final decision will be taken by the United Nations General Assembly, “Mr Rugunda told Parliament.

The premier explained that when this matter came to the attention of government, both “the political and technical leadership in the Foreign Affairs Minister mobilised and supported that the centre should remain at Entebbe.”

Parliament on Wednesday passed a resolution urging the government to intensify engagement of essential diplomatic channels to convince the United Nations General Assembly to retain the UN Regional Service Centre in Entebbe, Uganda.

Lwemiyaga County MP Theodore Ssekikubo, who moved the motion, said Kenya already hosts some UN agencies and Uganda should be given a chance to host the base.

“Kenya already houses a number of UN agencies such as UN habitat and Unepi. Therefore consideration should be given to equitable distribution of UN facilities among different member states,” Mr Ssekikubo said.

Parliament’s involvement in the matter comes after President Museveni wrote to Mr Guterres arguing that it is “unfair” to pick Nairobi over Entebbe to host the world body’s regional service centre in Africa even when Uganda and Kenya are “friendly neighbours”.

Secretary-general Guterres, in a May 1 report to UN’s Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), wrote recommending Kenya’s capital Nairobi as an alternative host, with the two other recommended locations being the Hungarian capital, Budapest and Mexico City, the Mexican capital.