Priorities for Museveni's new 2026-2031 Cabinet

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja gestures after taking the oath of office for a new term during a ceremony at State House, Entebbe, on June 8, 2026. PHOTO/PPU

President Museveni chose not to address the newly sworn-in Cabinet ministers yesterday. Instead, he promised to deliver his remarks during the 2026/27 Budget Day, scheduled for this Thursday.

His speech will highlight the main priorities for his new Cabinet and reiterate his commitment to the “no more sleep” agenda.

The President, according to State House insiders and ruling party officials, is expected to unveil his seventh elective term priorities that directly affect ordinary Ugandans and align with his commitment to accelerate the country’s journey towards high middle-income status while ensuring that no citizen is left behind. Additional details are expected to emerge from a Cabinet retreat planned for later this month.

As the country awaits the President’s address, Daily Monitor yesterday engaged key stakeholders from across the political divide to gather insights on the critical challenges that the incoming Cabinet must tackle as they assume their respective statutory roles.

• Fighting corruption through stronger accountability in service delivery and reducing budget leakages.

• Promote Commercial Diplomacy: With our trade deficit exceeding $2 billion annually, our embassies must pivot into active trade desks. We need aggressive commercial diplomacy to open foreign markets, boost Ugandan exports, and attract FDI.

•Fix the Shs10 trillion Domestic Arrears: This debt, equivalent to nearly 6 percent of our GDP, is suffocating thousands of local contractors. Clearing it is an economic emergency that will instantly inject liquidity back into the private sector and stabilise local banks.

•Address Corruption Head-On: Public procurement accounts for over 70 percent of the national budget, yet the Auditor General reports consistently flag billions of shillings in leakages. We need strict enforcement and zero tolerance to plug these procurement holes.

•Fix youth unemployment and wealth creation: Over 75 percent of our population is under the age of 30. We must shift from rhetoric to action by providing accessible credit to youth-led SMEs and commercialising agriculture to target the creation of at least 500,000 new jobs annually.

•Improve PIMS (Public Investment Management): With development spending consuming over 20 percent of the national budget, we must reform PIMS to eliminate the massive cost overruns and stalled “white elephant” projects, ensuring maximum return on investment for every