Former Ministers Refuse To Leave Office And Hand Over Official Cars

Posted by: Kyeyune Andrew Jonathan in Uganda news May 19, 2021

In a shocking revelation, some former ministers or rather insolent characters of the persons who served in the former cabinet have refused to leave the offices for the new members.

Some others have insisted on clinging to public property such as cars. This has brought the president in sharp conflict with the oath he took.

About a week ago, President Museveni took the Oath of the president. In the oath, he swore to uphold, preserve, protect and defend the constitution as well as observe the laws of Uganda.

Some of these members have continued to serve as ministers despite the fact that their government has now been dissolved. One question arises after all of this, in whose government are ministers serving?

Wandera Ogalo, a senior constitutional law lawyer described this situation as sad.

‘’We have a situation where the law is well and good until it stands in the way of the president. The laws no longer matter. The norms no longer matter. There is no rule of law. And rule of law simply means everyone including the leaders are equally subject to the same rule of law,’’ Ogalo said.

On Monday, the minister of state for ICT, Peter Ogwang said in an interview that there is currently no parliament.

He said there is no speaker or deputy speaker and even if people were appointed, they would not take up those positions. He said this is because there is no parliament to approve them.

The terms of office for Uganda’s ministers expired when the term of their appointing authority expired. They therefore cannot act under a special instrument with no backing by the law or the constitution.

The constitution requires Former Ministers who are not members of Parliament to take an oath as ‘ex-officio’ MPs before parliament accepts them.

Right now, a person acting as Prime Minister, Ruhakana Rugunda cannot conduct matters as leader of government business. This is because he has not taken an oath.

Many more such as Gen. Jeje Odongo can only be accepted in parliament as strangers. It should be noted that the act of maintaining an illegal cabinet offends the Constitution, and it is impeachable.

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