President Yoweri Kaguta Tubuhaburwa Museveni has ordered finance minister Matia Kasaija to suspend operations of the Democratic Governance Facility (DGF).
DGF funds most Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), including in the human rights, democracy, and women empowerment arenas.
But Museveni has now ordered Kasaija to suspend DGF’s operations in Uganda.
The president is angry that DGF funds were reportedly injected in activities “designed to subvert government.”
In the runup to the 2021 election, the NGOs funded by DGF allegedly devoted a huge chunk of their activities to politics, reportedly in defence of National Unity Platform (NUP) presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi aka Bobi Wine.
He was also concerned that DGF and foreign missions had rejected the move by the finance ministry to have government representatives on its board.
In the end, Museveni has made orders to pressurize DGF to be more accountable to government.
“I am, therefore, directing you to immediately suspend the activities of the fund until cabinet has fully reviewed this matter and a new governance structure in which the elected representatives of the people of Uganda have appropriate oversight, has been put in place and approved by me,” Museveni wrote to Kasaija on January 02.
