The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (Regional Affairs), Hon. John Mulimba has revealed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will reduce the number of diplomatic missions abroad from the current 38 to about 15 according to a president directive citing cost concerns and questions around their effectiveness.
Mulimba made the disclosure during the plenary sitting on Wednesday, 16 April 2025 while responding to concerns raised by Members of Parliament over the deteriorating performance of Uganda’s foreign missions.
“President Museveni has directed a cost-benefit review of all 35 foreign missions, with a view to reducing the number to around 15. There’s a clear directive to examine which missions offer the greatest return on investment and to scale down accordingly,” he said.
He said that this measure is meant to cure the challenges of low staffing and presence of missions. He added that this led to the presidential directive to carry out a cost-benefit analysis of the presence of the missions abroad.
This followed debate of the Committee on Foreign Affairs presented by the Chairperson, Hon. Catherine Lamwaka which highlighted the state of Uganda’s missions abroad citing security threats, underfunding and staffing gaps.
Mulimba said that the ministry’s budget shortfall is Shs238 billion which would cater for all the key areas of staffing, infrastructure, wages and subscriptions.
Lamwaka said that while the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961) mandates host countries to protect foreign diplomatic premises, many Ugandan missions fail to request adequate protection and instead depend on private security firms.
The committee also drew attention to the high demand for consular services at missions in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, where large populations of Ugandan migrant workers are based.
Missions in New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur and Nairobi were singled out for their growing burden in dealing with human trafficking cases involving young Ugandans who are promised employment abroad.
While the government is only obligated to repatriate citizens in the event of war or natural disasters, the committee warned that failure to assist stranded nationals abroad damages Uganda’s international image.
“Other countries go to great lengths to rescue their citizens. When Uganda does not, it creates a perception of neglect and weakens our diplomatic standing,” she warned.
The committee recommended emergency funding of Shs1.2 billion for the mission in New Delhi and Shs367 million for Kuala Lumpur to facilitate repatriation efforts.
The Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hon. Muwada Nkunyingi raised concern over the absence of substantive ambassadors in key countries including the DRC, Iran, Kenya, Nigeria, and Canada.
“What is the government doing to address this anomaly?” he asked.
Kasilo County MP, Hon. Elijah Okupa re-echoed similar frustrations highlighting the stagnation in career progression for foreign service staff.
“Some officers recruited over 12 years ago have never been promoted despite a presidential directive,” he said.
Mukono North MP, Hon. Abdallah Kiwanuka criticised the lack of a coherent foreign policy on labour externalisation warning that Ugandans continue to fall prey to human traffickers in the Middle East due to policy gaps.
“If we cannot budget sustainably to protect and repatriate our citizens, why are we allowing externalisation at all?” he asked.
Bukimbiri County MP, Hon. Eddie Kwizera also demanded for clarity on the country’s foreign policy and compensation for damages to Uganda’s embassies, particularly Uganda House in Nairobi and the Kinshasa Mission.
