In his re-election manifesto, President Museveni promised that his government would build a primary school in every parish to reduce the distance pupils walk to school; he pledged a technical institute in each constituency, more classrooms and teachers’ houses to achieve a 50:1 pupils-to-classroom and pupils-to-teacher thresholds.
Mr Museveni on the strength of this and other promises won a fresh mandate with 61 per cent in the February 2016 election, but he is now confronted with the challenge to translate them into reality within the next five years.
The President was aware accomplishing his additional commitments to increase the budget for scholastic materials, establishing a semi-autonomous entity for schools’ inspection and introducing a continuous primary education assessment examination and integrating the results in the final marks would require more able hands at the helm of the Education ministry than before.
And he did not look far, turning to his household, for the answer. Announcing the new Cabinet he billed will catapult Uganda into a middle-income economy by 2020, the President tapped his wife Janet and assigned her as Education minister to superintend its Shs2.2 trillion budget, the third-highest of national budget allocations.
She assumed the new duty yesterday, but her first day at work was overshadowed by a security lockdown, drowning her prepared message for reform and new ways of doing things for results.
The ruling NRM, known prior by other political nomenclature, has ruled Uganda for 31 years and has, in spite of drawbacks, earned praise for introducing free primary and secondary as well as post-primary education.
The challenges
However, erosion of quality for the convenience of higher enrolment persists. Studies show low literacy levels, for instance, among UPE graduates.
The ministry is also grappling with corruption, absenteeism and low staffing, disjointed supervision and administration structure.
So is the First Lady, a former Karamoja Affairs minister, the panacea?
Will she deliver on President Museveni’s promise to build a technical institute in every constituency, provide free scholastic materials and sanitary pads to pupils to improve learning and retain girls at schools?
Ms Museveni’s first degree, obtained at Makerere University, is in Education, theoretically meaning that she is at home in the new Cabinet slot. She took over office yesterday from Major (rtd) Jessica Alupo.
State House explains
According to Mr Moses Byaruhanga, the presidential adviser on political affairs, and sources close to State House, the First Lady was given the Education ministry because of its significance and the prospect that her charm would engender required reforms.
“She is hard working [and] most of the challenges in service delivery are based on poor supervision and not lack of money,” said Mr Byaruhanga, adding: “I have no doubt that the First Lady will do good work in the education sector as her hard work and determination to achieve results in all that she lays her hands on. She has succeeded in Karamoja and her achievements are visible.”
Others disagree. Retired Supreme Court judge George Kanyeihamba a former cabinet minister in Museveni’s government who has now fallen out of favour, said Education is a “wrong docket” for the First Lady to superintend because of her “forgiving heart as a born-again Christian”.
He said: “She should have gone to [the] Ethics and Integrity ministry; her forgiving nature will come in and thieves will not be punished. But we pray that she changes her methods of work.”
Because she is at the centre of power and closest to the President, many Ugandans consider the First Lady as wielding the necessary clout to move things and attract resources.
Mr Nicholas Opiyo, a lawyer and policy analyst, subscribes to this school of thought.
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