President Yoweri Museveni has rejected a proposal from legislators of his ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party that sought to involve them in recommending names for appointments to the positions of Permanent Secretaries, Resident District Commissioners (RDCs), Resident City Commissioners (RCCs), and Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs).
The proposal was contained in a draft of resolutions from the NRM retreat and was read by the party’s Secretary General, Richard Todwong, at the close of the retreat on Tuesday.
However, before members could adopt the resolutions, Museveni rejected the proposal. He admitted that he has been part of the problem by appointing failed politicians to key government commissions.
Todwong had told the gathering of NRM legislators—joined by some independent and opposition members—that lawmakers need to be involved in such appointments since they are responsible for implementing the NRM manifesto.
The proposal was later struck from the resolutions after the President rejected it.
Museveni made it clear that Lucy Nakyobe, the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, has long opposed this practice, and stressed that politicians must not be involved now.