I appointed cantankerous Balaam, quarrelsome Nameere to Local Government ministry for a reason – Museveni

President Yoweri Museveni has spoken out on his decision to appoint Balaam Barugahara and Justine Nameere to the Ministry of Local Government, saying he chose them because they are willing to confront corruption and poor service delivery.

Speaking during his address at the reading of the 2026/27 national budget at Kololo on June 11, 2026, Museveni said he was aware of the public perception of the two ministers, whom he described as cantankerous and quarrelsome 

Both Balaam and Nameere, who are the new Ministers of Local Government and State Minister for Local Government respectively, are know for their unorthodox behavior, controversial social media posts and unpolished public commentary on different topics

The president said however that he wanted them to take out their rage on local government officials who are involved in stealing money from development programs such as PDM.

“That is why I put in people who some people say are cantankerous like Barugahara and Nameere. Nameere is famous for quarrelling, so you go and quarrel with those people,” Museveni said.

The President recalled defending Nameere against criticism from some leaders in Masaka who accused her of lacking manners.

“When I went to Masaka to defend her, some people were saying, ‘How was that girl raised? She has no manners!’ But I said if her lack of manners will help us fight off evil…”

He argued that many Ugandans fear confronting wrongdoing because those who expose corruption are often accused of being disrespectful.

“Because here in Uganda, you are not even allowed to point out bad elements. When you call someone a thief they say you have bad manners. This is how you are going to destroy the country,” Museveni said.

Museveni expressed frustration over the theft of medicines from government health facilities and the misuse of public funds.

The President said government structures were in place to monitor service delivery but many leaders had failed to perform their duties.

“There is no medicine in government hospitals, but you have government officials, the sub-county chiefs, the Gombolola Internal Security Officer. They need to be strict. They are all there, but the drugs are being stolen. That is what I can no longer tolerate,” Museveni said.

He revealed that during the election period, he frequently contacted former Local Government minister Raphael Magyezi over complaints about the theft of Parish Development Model (PDM) funds.

“Instead of campaigning, I was getting complaints about stolen PDM funds, and kept calling him to explain,” he said.

Museveni also criticised Members of Parliament, including opposition legislators, for failing to monitor government programmes in their constituencies.

“What are the MPs doing? Even the opposition ones? I will struggle with the NRM ones but even those from the opposition, as long as you are getting allowance from Parliament and you do not go to check what is happening, I will ask the Attorney General to see how to deal with you. If you do not want to monitor government projects, don't take the allowances,” he said.

The President accused some opposition politicians of deliberately undermining government programmes so that the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) could be blamed for their failure.

“Some of the opposition people do it maliciously; they want the programmes to not work so that the NRM government can be blamed. That is not good enough for you, because these programmes are not for the government; they are for your own people,” he said.