Wilson Muruli Mukasa, the Minister of Public Service
In a bid to create jobs and wealth for all, the Ministry of Public Service proposed rationalization of money-consuming agencies and restructuring of government to eliminate “agencification’ of government and duplication.
As such, the legal framework (40) bill that give effect to the approved structure under the Rationalization of Government Agencies and Public Expenditure (RAPEX) were submitted to Parliament for legislation. Out of 40 Bills 23 have been passed by parliament.
Out of the forty (40) submitted to Parliament, Thirty-Four (34) have been passed by Parliament and Twenty One (21) have been assented to by H.E The President. 6 Bills are still pending legislation.
Arising out of this reform, the government will realise annual savings of Shs906.77Bn; and pay a one-off expenditure of Shs229.595 Bn to cater for gratuity, pension and severance package to the staff who will be affected during the implementation process, including Shs196.744 Bn for UNRA alone.
These details were revealed by Wilson Muruli Mukasa, the Minister of Public Service while updating Ugandans about the Ministry’s achievements in the implementation of the NRM Manifesto 2021-2026 at the Office of the President Auditorium in Kampala on Tuesday.
Mukasa highlighted the above as part of the commitments of the government for the period 2021-2026.
The other commitment was to reform government bureaucracy to ensure effective implementation of programmes.
Under this, Mukasa said this will minimize human-to-human contact in the delivery of services.
“Government has implemented an integrated Human Capital Management System (HCM) which automates Human Resource Management functions. To date, the Ministry of Public Service has completed HCM roll-out and go-live in Two Hundred Ten (210) Ministries, Departments, Agencies and Local Governments under phase 1 and 2,” he explained.
He added that the government of Uganda through the Ministry of Public Service developed an electronic inspection tool (e-inspection tool) to be used in the inspection of Ministries, Agencies and Local Governments.
Cumulatively, he said that the tool has been rolled to 30 Votes and this has reduced turn around time for carrying out inspections and reduced the overall cost of conducting inspections.
The other commitment, he said, was the implementation of pay reforms for civil servants to improve implementation discipline.
As at July, 2024, he said that the government has allocated Shs2.2 Trillion towards enhancement of salary. As a result, Mukasa noted that 60,077 Public officers excluding the Uganda People’s Defence Forces currently earn 77% of the approved long term pay targets while a total number of 125,276 have been enhanced since FY 2017/2018.
Enhancement of emoluments for scientists
Mukasa said that “this has been achieved with scientists earning 100 percent of the approved long term pay targets by FY 2023/2024.”
Meanwhile, the government has progressively provided money for recruitment of health workers, the demand to provide money for salary enhancement notwithstanding. He revealed that in FY 2024/2025, Shs25.44Bn has been provided for recruitment of health workers.
He said the recruitment is ongoing across the country.
He adds that the staffing level as at FY 2023/2024 for health workers in Local Governments stood at an average of 87% while the one for Regional Referral Hospital was at 62%.
As part of its commitment, the Ministry of Public Service developed an Employee Wellness and Health Management Framework for Public Service. Mukasa says that “this comprehensive framework provides for physical exercises, employee screening, breast feeding corners among others which will enhance employee health and productivity.”
The government has over the years provided funding for both enhancement and recruitment for Officers of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and the Judiciary. As a result of this, the Minister says that staffing levels for judiciary increased from 31 percent before 2021 to 42 percent in 2023.
The Ministry has also upgraded public sector training to improve relevance and impact. As a result, it has built capacity of 5,003 individuals, including 3129 males and 1874 females in different disciplines offered by the Civil Service College.
It has also commenced undertaking tracer studies to assess the utilization of learning to improve service delivery.
Further, the Ministty has developed a Capacity Building Framework and Plan, outlining essential training requirements at individual and organizational levels.
The Ministry has also established partnerships with organizations such as ENABEL (Belgian Technical Cooperation), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and Institute for Cooperate Governance Uganda (ICGU) to deliver customized training sessions in vital areas such as Local Economic Development, Strategy Planning, Development and -Management, Project Planning and Management, Resource Management and Mobilization, Strategic Leadership and Management, Human Resource Management, Gender and Equity Responsive Planning and Budgeting, as well as Ethics and Corporate Governance.
Training Policy is under review to provide for a training framework that enhances relevance and impact.
Attendance of teachers, health workers
According to Mukasa, attendance to duty is being tracked using Teacher Effectiveness and Learner Achievement System (TELA) in 20 Districts under Office of the Prime Minister.
For attendance of Health workers, he said that the government has successfully rolled out the wall-mountable biometric machines that automatically link to Integrated Human Resources Information System (iHRIS) at the MoH HQ to 16 RRHs which include; Jinja RRH, Masaska RRH, Mbale RRH, Kayunga RRH, Lira RRH, Mubende RRH, Hoima RRH, Kabale RRH, Gulu RRH, Fortportal RRH, Arua RRH, Entebbe RRH, Moroto RRH, Soroti RRH, Mbarara RRH, Yumbe RRH.
Salary Enhancements
Government is progressively enhancing the salary of Public Officers. According to Mukasa, in the FY 2024/2025, the salary of Uganda Police Force, Uganda Prisons Services and lower ranks in the UPDF has been enhanced by 40% of the approved long term pay targets.
“Government is also in the processes of establishing a National Emoluments Review Board to review and determine remuneration in the service,” said Mukasa.
The Ministry of Public Service has spearheaded the adoption of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) framework as a cutting-edge Performance Management System. This innovative approach, Mukasa says, serves as a robust mechanism for gauging the efficacy of Governmental Initiatives by comparing actual outcomes against generic outputs. The BSC is being implemented in 7 MDAs and 28 LGs.
But these have come with challenges.
These are:
-Partial implementation of the revised salary enhancement across government which has led to decreased morale and productivity of those yet to be enhanced.
-Limited funding to facilitate implementation of the reforms and interventions (e.g Service Uganda Centres, Balance Score Card).
-Manual attendance to duty is easily abused and votes do not have funds to install bio-metrics.
Mukasa says that the government will fast track enhancement of Salaries for government employees; Improve funding to the Ministry from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development.
The Government will also develop proposals to attract funding from Development Partners; procure and install biometric machines in all votes, and linkage of attendance to duty to salary payment.
