President Yoweri Museveni’s stern directive on who should regulate Animal drugs in Uganda has pitted the National Drug Authority (NDA) against the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) sources in the two institutions reveal. In 2016, the president issued a directive, which advised that all Animal drugs should be vetted by MAAIF, a role that currently belongs to NDA under the National Drug Policy and Authorirty Act 1993 (NDPA Act 1993).
Top officials at NDA have not yet implementing the directives, because they argue that the NDA Act empowers the institution to regulate all types of drugs that are imported or manufactured in the country. MAAIF on the other hand insists on taking over this function in line with the president’s directives.
Sources within the two institutions who allowed to speak on condition of anonymity reveal that the commissioner of Animal Health at MAAIF, suggests that besides the president’s directive, NDA cannot regulate veterinary drugs because it is traditionally situated within the Ministry of Health. In response to these assertions, NDA recruited Veterinary Doctors, who have since covered any gap related to regulating veterinary medicine.
“The battle for who regulates drugs has been there for a long time. MAAIF wants to regulate veterinary drugs while NDA insists that it is mandated by law to regulate drugs. It has since built more capacity to regulate, withering criticism from MAAIF,” a Senior NDA Official told this newspaper.
Although NDA addressed these complaints, MAAIF has taken steps to take over the regulation of Animal Drugs from NDA.
