Ssemujji backs Musasizi for Finance top office-Lukia Nantaba

Former Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda backs former State Minister for Finance Henry Musasizi for being promoted to the top job.

While speakibg on NBS Television's prime political talk-show, Frontline, on Thursday, Ssemujju argued that former Finance Minister Matia Kasaija had already handed over the work to him.

“I think it’s only fair that Musasizi takes over,” Ssemujju told journalists in Kampala on Tuesday. “Matia Kasaija had abandoned the work of the Finance Ministry to Musasizi. In practice, it’s Musasizi who has been running the ministry.”

The comments come as President Museveni reshapes his Cabinet following the 2026 general election. Kasaija, has served as Finance Minister since 2015 and is one of the longest-serving members of the Cabinet.

Musasizi, MP for Rubanda East, has been State Minister for General Duties in the Finance docket since 2021-2026.

Ssemujju, a vocal opposition MP and FDC spokesperson, said the arrangement had been obvious to anyone following Parliament’s budget process.

“When you watch the budget readings and the responses in Parliament, it’s Musasizi who stands up, who explains, who defends. Kasaija rarely appears,” Ssemujju said. “If someone has been doing the job for four years, why not make it official?”

He added that formalizing Musasizi’s role would end what he called “pretence” in the ministry’s leadership structure and give clarity to technocrats and donors.

Kasaija was appointed Finance Minister in 2015 and retained the docket through the 2016 and 2021 elections.

A former banker and MP for Buyanja County in Kibaale, he has overseen Uganda’s budget through COVID-19, rising debt servicing costs, and the rollout of the Parish Development Model.

In recent years, he has delegated much of the parliamentary and public-facing work to Musasizi, appearing mostly at high-level meetings with the President and the IMF.

MP for elderly Ofwono Opondo said that many people expected the President to make a significant shift when forming this cabinet.

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