“This study provides detailed analysis of the factors that account for the unprecedented expansion of the executive bureaucracy in Uganda. It is this expanded political bureaucracy that partly accounts for the groincreae in public administration
expenditure. To begin with, this political bureaucracy has led to significant diversion
of public funds and resources from critical social and economic sectors. Its bloated
nature has blurred the lines of accountability and responsibility hence breeding unprecedented corruption and mismanagement. The statistical evidence of this is overwhelming. In less than a decade, the size of the cabinet increased from 42
ministers originally provided for under the constitution to approximately 72. The
number of Presidential Advisors increased from 4 in 1994 to 71 in 2003. Different
reports suggest that there are approximately 278 presidential advisors, presidential
assistants and presidential secretaries. The central argument of this paper is that an
over-size cabinet, and a growing Executive bureaucracy built around the Office of
the President and State House, is the single most important threat to governance, and efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve economic transformation in Uganda today.”
