Africa-Press – Uganda. Different special interest groups have opposed a move by the government to merge the councils for youth, children, Persons with Disabilities, and women under one entity, saying this will disadvantage the groups.
They have also opposed the proposed merger of the Equal Opportunities Commission with the Uganda Human Rights Commission into one entity, saying the two were created by the Constitution and that their merger can only be decided through a referendum.
Cabinet this week okayed the proposed merger and the Public Service ministry officials said they are ready to table the merger bills in Parliament.
However, the special interest groups are angry with the proposal and say the mergers will create more problems.
“As leaders of these affected councils, we would like to reject and oppose the proposed merger,” the officials of youth, women, PWD elders and children’s councils said during a press briefing on Tuesday.
Mr Yona Waswa, the Chairperson National Council for Persons with Disabilities said many countries have used Uganda to benchmark on issues related to special interest groups, which is a milestone.
“By merging these councils, the government is watering down its own achievements rather than consolidating them,” he said.
He added:”Most of the government projects are promoting inclusive growth and this cannot be achieved if you have disintegrated and excluded social structure which these councils are doing.”
In a joint press statement, the special interest groups also argued that the councils for youth, women, children, PWDS and older persons were created because of the historical injustices such as marginalisation and discrimination of the special interest groups
“In our opinion, the challenges and reason that led to the creation of the councils still exist,” the members said.
The special interest groups also said by merging the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) with the Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) through repealing Article 32 of the Constitution, the government is shooting itself in the foot.
“The repeal of Article 32 of the Constitution and the merger of the councils will have a far-reaching effect on the representation of the special interest groups in Parliament and Local Government councils. This is the beginning of the government removing the representation of the special interest groups, something that we reject and (are) opposed to,” they said.
Mr Jacob Eyeru, the chairman of the National Youth Council, said: “Councils for special interest groups such as the youth, women, persons with disabilities and older persons are politically elected leaders and they have a five-year mandate, which if we compromise this year changes in their mandate and this will affect the people they are representing,” he said.
Mr Eyeru said such groups, the world over, are given special attention because they are unique and require prirotisation by the governments.
“ If the government is targeting to reduce expenditures the bodies lined up for merging are among the entities which take little amount of money compared to what government spend in donations in certain offices in this country,” he said.
Support for the merger
The Chairperson of UHRC, Ms Mariam Wangadya, told on Wednesday that the Commission is ready for the merger and that both EOC and UHRC handle human rights related matters, just that the EOC specialises on equality.
“We do not wish to be an obstacle to the government policy we believe is well intended,’’ she said.
The Spokesperson of Uganda Wildlife Authority, Mr Bashir Hangi, said they work as government structures and they are waiting for the commencement of the merger.
“We were created by the government and other entities are also under the government and if there is a need to merge some entities we have no objections to that,” he said on Wednesday, adding that UWA, was ready to work with Uganda Wildlife Education Centre.
Minister speaks out
The Ministry of Public Service has however warned that those opposed to the merger are fighting a losing battle because the government will not yield to their opposition.
Ms Mary Mugasa, the State minister of Public Service, on Wednesday, told this publication that those opposing the mergers are greedy and selfish.
“For them, they are focusing on money and selfishness. They are not focusing on service delivery but on money. Some of them have even gone up to the extent of abusing this system and they have overstretched the government’s patience,” she said.
Ms Mugasa added: “Let them [affected civil servants] keep calm, and focus on whatever they are doing in the meantime, as they wait to be transferred or to be merged.”
She said at least 30 bills are ready to be tabled before Parliament and said the ministry is only waiting for the certificate of financial implication from the Finance ministry to table the bills.
The government expects to save about Shs1 trillion annually after merging the agencies.
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