The Ministry of Public Services is actively working to establish a board for the newly formed Uganda Free Zones Authority and the Uganda Export Promotions Board.
This comes into effect after the two government agencies of the Uganda Free Zones Authority and the Uganda Export Promotions Board were abolished under the ongoing rationalization process of the government agencies.
Speaking in an interview on Tuesday, October 1, 2024, Allen Kakama, the Commissioner of Management Services at the Ministry of Public Service, stated that the newly formed agency is currently operating without a board due to some delays in this process but reassured that it is progressing with guidance from the Attorney General.
“We already wrote to the Attorney General to guide. The heads of those institutions will handle. The board is going to come into place within a short time,” Kakama said.
Tuesday marked the end of the grace period for merging, mainstreaming, or transferring functions of 60 government agencies to other entities, with 24 institutions rationalized, resulting in the loss of 219 jobs from 21 government agencies.
To address the financial implications for affected staff, Kakama revealed that Ugx 74.3 billion has been allocated to the supervising ministries of these agencies to compensate them.
“The total amount of money that we are supposed to spend on pension, gratuity, and surveillance packages for the affected staff of the 60 government agencies is Ugx 74.3 billion shillings. Out of that, we have already got Ugx 29.606 billion shillings to cater for the staff that has already been rationalized,” Kakama added.
This restructuring is part of a broader strategy initiated by a cabinet decision in February 2021 aimed at eliminating functional duplications and reducing public expenditure across government agencies.
The overall goal is to save approximately Ugx 800 billion annually while enhancing efficiency within government operations.
