Vincent Bagiire, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign AffairsBy Prisca WanyenyaThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs has denied allegations of intentionally delaying the nomination of Ambassador Olara Otunu as Uganda’s preferred candidate for United Nations, Secretary General arguing that there is no deadline issued on when candidates may be nominated and, as soon as Government issued the directive to have him nominated, the Ministry implemented the directive the next day.This was disclosed by Vincent Bagiire, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the familiarisation meeting held with Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, held on 3rd August 2026, where he was responding to a question raised by Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny (Zombo Woman MP), who tasked the Ministry to explain why Uganda delayed endorsing Olara’s candidature.Kwiyucwiny asked, “The discussion is in the public that why did you nominate Ambassador Otunu late to the UN position? Did you mean that he should fail by nominating him late?”Bagiire responded noting, “The unfortunate thing is there is not necessarily a deadline on when the Secretary General for the UN should submit. I think there is still even a window, if I am not mistaken, for someone to come in and submit. So, someone may come in tomorrow to submit their candidature. We received a directive and when we received the directive, we immediately implemented it without any delay. I think we made the submission the day we were directed to do so. So, we are pursuing this candidature, we are supporting it, and we are hopeful that we have a chance.”It should be recalled that on 29th July 2026, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement confirming the nomination of Olara Otunu as Uganda’s candidate for the position of UN Secretary General, describing him as a distinguished statesman whose decades of experience in diplomacy, peacebuilding and international governance position him well to lead the United Nations.While presenting his vision for the United Nations, Olara Otunu called for a revitalised United Nation grounded in peace and security, human rights and sustainable development, noting that the next Secretary-General must restore and strengthen the moral authority of the office through dialogue, consensus-building and principled leadership.Otunu reaffirmed that his candidature is driven by service to the international community and the shared aspirations of humanity, adding that the Secretary-General serves the peoples of the world. The challenges of peace, development, climate change, technology and human dignity are collective concerns that require collective solutions.During the meeting, Gabriel Okumu (Okora County) also sought clarification on Uganda’s position to engage in peace keeping mission in Gaza as earlier requested for by United States President, Donald Trump noting, “Recently, the social media was awash, a call from the US President that Uganda, requesting Uganda to contribute peacekeeping mission to Gaza. I wanted to also, as a Committee on Foreign Affairs, to know how far this has been, and what advice the Committee on Foreign Affairs of Parliament, the position of government, we need to know, since we are the line committee.”However, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed Parliament that Uganda hasn’t received aby formal communication regarding United States request for Uganda to join the war in Gaza and before such a decision is taken, Parliament will be consulted.Bagiire noted, “We have not received information officially that Uganda shall participate in the peacekeeping mission. But what I know is that the country cannot deploy without permission of Parliament. My understanding is that at an appropriate time, the responsible ministry, most likely the Ministry of Defence, shall appear before Parliament to seek that permission before the deployment is done. So, at that point in time, Parliament will be fully involved and then will associate with that peacekeeping mission.” The post No Delay in Olara Otunu’s UN Secretary General Secondment, Govt Says appeared first on Business Focus.