Baryomunsi defends gov’t position on ending medical interns payments

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:01]One by one, the ministers designate arrived at Parliament prepared for the closed door vetting for the respective portfolios.

[00:00:10]It was a busy day for the Jacob Oulanyah who both chaired the appointments committee which lined up 46 presidential appointees for vetting in the course of the day.

[00:00:19]Museveni appointed 81 ministers, all of whom have to undergo the parliamentary vetting exercise. Last week, a whole committee of the house vetted the Vice President, Jessica Alupo, and the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja.

[00:00:32]The vetted were optimistic of making it through.

[00:00:35]>> I have attended the interview.

[00:00:38]I have explained my best. The questions really they were asking were not more about were not about my suitability. My suitability was not a question.

[00:00:48]>> We now have to implement the 10-fold growth strategy which is in place now.

[00:00:56]We must make sure that the 10-fold growth strategy is implemented so that we raise half a trillion GBP.

[00:01:08]>> I've been attending Parliament.

[00:01:10]And the ministers have not been attending.

[00:01:14]They usually don't come like we expect them to be there.

[00:01:20]So I think we are going to come up with a roster for whoever will be supposed to attend Parliament.

[00:01:28]>> The designated Minister for Trade, Industry, and Cooperatives, and the former Tororo Municipality MP, Sanjay Tanna, was among those who appeared for the vetting. Tanna dispelled the claims of being a dual citizen.

[00:01:39]>> I may be of Indian origin, but I'm a Ugandan, born and brought up here.

[00:01:44]And I serve the Ugandan people. I have served in this Parliament for two terms.

[00:01:49]>> He stated that the citizenship question took up plenty of the time he spent with the committee.

[00:01:54]>> Yes, they raised the issue and I told them that I do not hold any dual citizenship. I only hold the Ugandan passport and I do not hold any other passport.

[00:02:03]>> In a brief interview with the media, the leader of the opposition and a member of the appointments committee, Joel Ssenyonyi, advised that it would have been appropriate for the holders of dual citizenship to avoid the vetting process.

[00:02:14]>> We have not seen them yet. They have not come yet. My hope is that they will not even show up.

[00:02:20]You know that that will be rectified because it's a position of the law. It's not debatable.

[00:02:25]>> Ssenyonyi's stand is based on constitutional limitation.

[00:02:28]>> Why do some people say some of these are very good people, qualified, and so on?

[00:02:31]They can serve well in government. Who says they can only serve as ministers?

[00:02:35]They can serve in other portfolios, in other responsibilities. But maybe if they insist on serving as cabinet ministers, let them first relinquish the citizenship of the other countries.

[00:02:48]>> The designated Minister for Health, Chris Baryomunsi, pointed out that a decision was reached by the government to stop the payment of medical interns.

[00:02:56]>> I think it was arrived at that we consider internship as continuation of training because I think the numbers are also many given the many medical schools and the and that now when you finish internship, that's when you can get into full employment as a qualified doctor.

[00:03:19]>> Baryomunsi stated that the move away from the tradition stems from the higher number of medical interns from both the public and private institutions of higher learning.

[00:03:28]>> So, it has its its pros and cons.

[00:03:32]The policy has been passed and we shall see how it will work and we look at it as we get along.

[00:03:40]>> The vetting continues on Tuesday.

[00:03:42]Jackson Onyango, NTV.