Minister Anite decries laziness, corruption in govt agencies

Privatization and Investment Minister Ms Evelyn Anite has decried what she called “laziness and wanton greed” in some ministries, departments and Agencies.

The junior Finance minister who was representing her boss Mr Matia Kasaija at the closing ceremony of Service excellence exhibition at Kololo ceremonial grounds, explained that the government is determined to merge some agencies in order to deal with the problems and streamline service delivery.   

“The reason why the government is merging Departments and Agencies is because there is a lot of laziness and corruption in these institutions… there is no way we can look on as some people steal public funds with impunity. We are going to deal with the problem head on and merge some agencies to stop laziness and corruption,” Ms Anite said.

“When talked of mergers there was a lot of talks in the departments and agencies but now we are quiet they are also quiet. If you (Departments and Agencies) don’t perform well, we are going to merge you.”

The three-day Service Excellence closed on June 7, in the speech the minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Mr Kasaija said during the exhibition, over 120 Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies and over 17 Civil Society Organisation showed cased their product and services; 2,400 Ugandans received the Yellow Fever Vaccine; 284 units of blood were collected; and, 3,000 liters of milk were distributed to mention but a few. “The above purpose has therefore largely been achieved,” Mr Kasaija said in the speech.

Mr Kasaija explained that the National Budget Month activities in general and Service Excellence Exhibition in particular have facilitated Public awareness and understanding of how the National Budget has been spent by the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

“The exhibition has created and inspired inroads in public ownership of the National Budget and buy-in for Government programs; there has been improved collaboration between the different Government agencies in demonstrating accountability for public resources; and there is an increase in public awareness about the Key Government programmes and how the public get involved in demanding better services,” he said.

Mr Kasaija said the following lessons have been learnt during the same period: the needs more sensitization on government programs.

“I therefore call upon my colleague Ministers to publicize the government programmes in order to increase awareness among the public; there is an even greater demand for government interventions in the everyday lives of Ugandans in the areas of health and Agriculture, therefore the exhibition should be held in the different regions of the country to facilitate uniform access to information on government programmes and projects,” he said.            

The director budget, Mr Kenneth Mugambe said the budget is key instrument in running government programmes. “We are doing this for purposes of budget transparency; last year Uganda was ranked number two in budget transparency in Africa after South Africa; in future we should number one in budget transparency,” he said.