I Rather Trust My Village Rainmaker: Tayebwa Questions Gov’t Meteorological Forecasts

Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa has questioned the reliability of Uganda’s weather forecasts, saying he would trust his village rainmaker over the country’s meteorological system. Tayebwa made the remarks on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, while opening a two-day induction for Members of Parliament serving on the Forum on Climate Change and the Committee on Natural Resources at Mestil Hotel in Kampala.

He said Parliament should support substantially higher funding for meteorological services so that government can acquire modern equipment capable of producing more reliable and timely weather information.

“We lobbied for about Shs12 billion for UNMA to have the latest equipment. But now, with the equipment that we have, I rather trust my rainmaker,” Tayebwa said. He added: “I think they are also predicting manually. They tell us rain is coming this time; you wait for rain, zero.”

Tayebwa said the committees should push for the meteorological budget to rise to about Shs50 billion, arguing that accurate weather information is fundamental to disaster preparedness and planning across the economy.

Uganda National Meteorological Authority (UNMA) was dissolved under the government’s Rationalisation of Government Agencies and Public Expenditure programme. Its functions were mainstreamed into the Ministry of Water and Environment under the Department of Meteorological Services.

The change means that the question facing Parliament is no longer simply whether to fund an autonomous meteorological authority, but whether the ministry’s current meteorological structure has the resources, equipment and institutional capacity required to deliver the forecasting services expected of it.

Official budget and sector documents show that the meteorological function continues to receive public funding. In the Ministry of Water and Environment’s FY2026/27 budget, the National Meteorological Services vote has Shs13.708 billion in recurrent funding, with no development allocation listed under the meteorological vote. The Ministry’s own recent assessment, however, acknowledges continuing gaps.

In February 2026, the Ministry announced a four-year US$6.3 million, approximately Shs23.5 billion, Systematic Observation Financing Facility (SOFF) project to upgrade weather-observation infrastructure in Uganda. The project is being implemented through the Ministry’s Department of Meteorological Services and is intended to address gaps in weather stations, upper-air observations, data systems, staff capacity and maintenance.

At the technical launch of the project in Kampala on February 3, 2026, Department of Meteorological Services Commissioner Dr Bob Alex Ogwang said the investment would include installation and upgrading of ground-based weather stations, rehabilitation of upper-air stations and improvements in data management, sensor calibration and information technology.

The Ministry said the project followed an assessment that had identified gaps in Uganda’s compliance with the Global Basic Observing Network, the World Meteorological Organisation’s framework for international weather observation and data sharing. This provides an important qualification to Tayebwa’s criticism: Uganda is not operating without meteorological infrastructure or investment. The government has weather stations, radar infrastructure and an ongoing international-supported modernisation programme.

The unresolved question is whether those investments are sufficient to produce the level of forecasting accuracy and public early warning that Parliament expects. UNMA commissioned a Shs12 billion weather radar in Mwizi, Rwampara District, in March 2022. The radar was designed to detect severe weather, including thunderstorms, lightning, squalls and heavy rainfall, and to improve forecasting across western and south-western Uganda.

Tayebwa linked the forecasting question to what he described as Uganda’s tendency to spend after disasters rather than investing sufficiently in prevention. “Climate change is no longer a time for speeches. It is time for action,” he told the MPs. He questioned the continued allocation of resources for emergency relief when more investment in prevention and early warning could help government and communities prepare before extreme weather strikes.

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