UGANDA GOVERNMENT HALTS PLANS TO RETURN SPECIALISED AGENCIES AND AUTHORITIES TO THEIR LINE MINISTRIES
(Posted 04th August 2019)
Information has been received from Kampala that government, for now at least, has made a U-turn and halted plans announced a year ago, that specialised agencies and authorities were to be either merged or in any case to be returned to their home ministries as departments.
For the tourism industry that meant great uncertainty over the future of the Uganda Tourism Board, the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre and other similar bodies.
A regular and usually well informed source has now suggested to ATCNews that these plans, in the face of substantial opposition by the relevant economic sectors, have been put on ice. The disagreement by the private sector has prompted the Ugandan government to take a fresh look at the initial proposals made, which in hindsight look like the proverbial shot from the hip, i.e. not thought through and certainly done without any stakeholder consultations at the time.
For now there will no doubt be less frowns on the faces of the staff of UTB and UWA where these organizations now can concentrate on their mandate rather than devoting wo/manpower and resources to prepare for mergers or transfers which – definitely in the case of tourism – no one wants.
