Members of Parliament on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), chaired by Butambala County Member of Parliament Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, have raised concerns about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ handling of scholarships for Ugandans. Despite the availability of scholarship opportunities.
The MPs said the ministry has failed to effectively distribute them, leaving many deserving students to miss out.
In response to the Auditor General’s report for the financial year ending June 30th, 2023, Permanent Secretary Vicent Bagire clarified that the ministry acquires scholarships for the country. However, the responsibility for distributing these scholarships lies with other line ministries. This disconnect has resulted in missed opportunities for Ugandan students.
The PAC demanded transparency from the permanent secretary, requesting the names of students who applied for scholarships or were selected to attend educational programs abroad. Additionally, they sought information on the specific courses associated with these scholarships.
Hon. Muhamed Kivumbi, the committee’s chairman, expressed his disappointment. He highlighted that despite securing scholarships from various countries in different fields, most of these opportunities remained unused. In the financial year 2023, Uganda received 656 scholarships that went unutilized. This situation is particularly disheartening considering the number of young people in the country who aspire to pursue higher education but lack the means to do so.
Among the countries, that offered scholarship opportunities to Uganda last year included China, Malaysia, Denmark, Russia, and Algeria among others.
