MPs pleads to Museveni to appoint new Labour Minister

By Francis Lubega

12^th June 2023

The chairperson of the parliamentary forum on Labour, Decent Employment and Productivity who is also the Rukiga County Member of Parliament Roland Ndyomugyenyi has called on President Museveni to appoint the new State Minister for Labour following the death of the former minister Charles Okello Engola.

Minister of State for Labour, Employment & Industrial Relations, Col. (Rtd) Charles Okello Engola, was in May 2023 shot dead by his body guard Private Wilson Sabiti who later turned the gun on himself in a Kampala suburb.

Ndyomugyenyi says since the demise of Engola the operations of addressing the concerns of workers have crippled since the office is now closed.

Meanwhile the vice chairperson of the forum who is also one of the workers’ MPs Margaret Rwabushaija wants the government to have the workers’ ministry independent from the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to be able to address the challenges faced by workers in the country and those abroad.

Addressing a news conference at parliament about their scheduled launch of the forum on Tuesday, Rwabushaija noted that there are many laws that need to be streamlined to address the challenges faced by workers both at home and those abroad but they are not given priority.

It’s also from here that the forum members pleaded to Museveni to assent to the minimum wage bill which many Ugandans are waiting for as a doorway to their improvement in welfare.