Anna Borzello
A recent Cabinet reshuffle in Uganda was a disappointment for anyone hoping fo r an injection of fresh faces and new ideas.
The overriding impression was of a cautious President Yoweri Museveni creating a loyal and trusted team to push through his pre-election promises.
The top jobs of vice-president, prime minister and the three deputy ministers not only remained roughly the same — with the exception of former informati on minister Paul Etiang, who became third deputy prime minister — but their recipients were given even greater powers.
Vice-President Wandira Specioza Kazibwe is now also in charge of agriculture, animal industries and fisheries — a key post in a country which is agricult urally based — while Eriya Kategaya, first prime minister, was handed the foreign affairs portfolio.
Perhaps the only real surprise was the appointment of Internal Security Organi sation Chief Brigadier Jim Mweheize as minister of state for primary education , a newly created post.
The reason for the appointment is still obscure. However, several commentators speculated that it indicated Museveni’s commitment to pushing through his ele
ction promise of free education for four children per family by next year.
According to Ofwono Opondo, political journalist of the government-owned newsp aper The New Vision, the appointment of former minister of state for security Colonel Kahini Ottafire as minister of state for local government is also sign ficicant.
“Local government is crucial,” he explained. “Not just because of decentralisa tion, but because in three years’ time there will be a referendum on political systems in Uganda and people will choose between the Movement system and a re
turn to multi-party democracy. Government will want to utilise the network of local government to campaign for the Movement.”
The Movement — a “no-party” system of government which aims to include all shades of diverse opinion — claims to be an alternative form of democracy. In the new cabinet, however, people of divergent views have been dropped.
All parliamentarians who support a return to multi-party politics — includi ng Uganda People’s Congress assistant secretary general Cecilia Ogwal — hav e been excluded from the Cabinet. Instead, Museveni has tried to secure “broad -basedness” by making sure that Cabinet is regionally —rather than politica lly — balanced.
Although there has not yet been any breakdown of votes by sex, it is widely be lieved that Museveni secured a high number of women’s votes, mainly due to the government’s progressive policies which have seen women enter Parliament on a
ffirmative-action seats. — IPS