VP Alupo reconciles feuding Nabbanja, Onek

A team of senior government officials led by the Vice President, Ms Jessica Alupo,  yesterday moved to put a lid on the fallout between Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja and Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees minister Hilary Onek.
Simmering tensions over work methods between the two senior government officials had degenerated into a public spat following two letters authored by Mr Onek with Ms Nabbanja accusing her subordinate of indiscipline.

Very little was divulged about the meeting in an official statement circulated by Ms Alupo’s media team, suggesting the two had opted to bury their hatchet and work together.
Officials who attended the meeting were also reluctant to provide details, only releasing photos of the duo separated by Ms Alupo and flanked by their Cabinet colleagues. 

“We have had a good meeting and agreed to work together. We have decided to leave certain issues in the past and work for the betterment of our country,” Ms Alupo said in a statement. 
“We have agreed to look ahead and forget the past. We are one,” she added. 
The meeting was also attended by Gen Moses Ali, the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of Government Business in Parliament, and Ms Lucy Nakyobe, the head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet. 

The others in the meeting were Attorney General Kiryowa Kiwanuka, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Minister of ICT and National Guidance, and Ms Esther Anyakun, the State Minister for Relief, Disaster Preparedness and Refugees.
The meeting held at the Vice President’s Office was prompted by a letter from Mr Onek, in which he accused the premier of, among other things, usurping his powers.
In the October 29 letter, Mr Onek had threatened to resign over what he termed as PM Nabbanja’s “micromanagement” of his ministry. 

The letter is copied to President Museveni, Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah, his deputy Anita Among,  and Ms Anyakun.
 In the letter, Mr Onek expressed his frustration at work, detailing how Ms Nabbanja’s “micro-management” has rendered him redundant. 
“I have worked with the previous three Prime Ministers (late Prof Apollo Nsibambi, Amama Mbabazi and Dr Ruhakana Rugunda) and all along, I know that the constitutional [of a premier] role is to coordinate legislative agenda and lead government business in Parliament and monitor all ministries and government programmes,” Mr Onek noted. 

He added: “They never got involved in micro-management of other ministries. If you (Nabbanja) decides to micromanage other ministries, what then is the role of the sector ministers who are supposed to plan, make policies and deliver on the manifesto of His Excellency, the President?”