Out of 35 ambassadors representing Uganda across the globe, only six are career diplomats.
According to Foreign Affairs minister Sam Kutesa, the only foreign missions with career diplomats are Washington DC (Mull Katende Sebujja), Dar es Salaam (Richard Kabonero), New York (Adonia Ayebare), Guangzhou consulate (Solomon Rutega), Mombasa consulate (Phillip Katureebe) and Uganda’s mission in Abu Dhabi (Nimisha Madhvani).
While appearing before Parliament’s Foreign Affairs committee to defend the ministry’s 2017/2018 budget yesterday, Kutesa said the 17.1 per cent representation of career diplomats is worrying. He said he has written to the appointing authority to review the terms.
“I have tried my best to push to have career diplomats appointed and I make recommendations, just like the committee. It is disproportionately lower and we continue to appeal to the appointing authority to correct the imbalance,” Kutesa told the MPs yesterday.
The appointment of political appointees to diplomatic missions has been a hot button issue during budget discussions in Parliament. In its report to Parliament on the status of missions abroad tabled before Parliament last year, the Foreign Affairs committee sharply criticized the increasing number of political appointees in foreign service, ignoring career diplomats with vast experience.
In January this year, President Museveni appointed 37 new ambassadors, dropping long-serving ambassadors and replacing them with political appointees, some of whom lost in the 2016 general elections.
A number of legislators did not hide their displeasure at the imbalance. They asked Kutesa to organize a meeting between the president and committee members to discuss this matter, as well as the financial issues affecting the missions.
The chairperson of the committee, Rose Mutonyi (Bubulo West), who once served as an ambassador, stressed the importance of deploying career diplomats, with vast experience to handle foreign policy matters adequately.
“Ignoring career diplomats breeds dissatisfaction within. Although I was a beneficiary, I still feel we should increase the numbers,” Mutonyi said.
Absent on the list of diplomats presented in Parliament was former Democratic Party (DP) chairman, Mohammed Kezaala Baswale, which prompted Latif Ssebaggala (Kawempe North) to raise the matter.
“There is a position for Kezaala who was appointed deputy ambassador. Tell us where are you sending him as a big fish you got from DP?” Ssebaggala demanded, throwing the MPs into bouts of laughter.
The ministry’s budget for the 2017/2018 financial year will remain at Shs 31 billion. But Kutesa said the ministry had asked for an extra Shs 114 billion to fund its activities.
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