By: Ismael Kasooha
KAMPALA
The Prime Minister of Uganda Robinah Nabbanja has ordered for a forensic audit of Nakaseke District following findings of widespread corruption and gaps in service delivery.
While meeting leaders from Nakaseke District at the Office of the Prime Minister in Kampala, Nabbanja said that the report compiled by the Monitoring Unit at her office has unearthed a lot of issues that lead to people castigating the government on service delivery.
“Whoever was getting government money without working, their time is up. We shall not tolerate people who are casting a bad image on the government. We shall not allow such vices to thrive as a government,” said Nabbanja.
On Sunday, when the premier was presiding over a fundraising drive at Kinoni church of Uganda, she was briefed that health workers are extorting money from patients and they also rarely report to duty.
Nabbanja said that Nakaseke District has turned jobs into a lucrative business and are selling them at UShs 10m each which has led to marginalization of the people of Nakaseke because they cannot raise the required money to get jobs.
“The natives of Nakaseke are not being employed just because there are those buying off these jobs at the expense of the locals. The District Service Commission of Nakaseke must be brought to order,” said Nabbanja.
In the sector of health, Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister for Health said that the current absenteeism of health workers is due to the dual employment that gives room for health workers to abandon government work and concentrate in their privately owned clinics.
“The problem in the Health sector stems from the failure to outlaw dual employment for the health workers who continue to operate private clinics and Health Centers at the expense of the public. These people only report to register in the attendance books and go to attend to their private clinics,” said Aceng.
Dr. Diana Atwiine, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health says that some health workers have become complacent because they are permanent and pensionable.
Atwiine said that the government must introduce contracts for all workers if service delivery is to be streamlined.
“If these civil servants are made to sign contracts that are renewable I’m very sure we wouldn’t be experiencing such issues of absenteeism and inefficiency,” Atwiine added.
The State Minister for Public Service, Mary Grace Mugasa said that the government will introduce service delivery standards and whoever falls short shall even lose out on gratuity.
“As government we are introducing service delivery standards to assess people’s performance and whoever fails to score 50% and above shall be dismissed and even forego the gratuity and pension they are boasting of,” said Mugasa.
In the roads sector, the Minister for Works and Transport Gen. Katumba Wamala said that the government has been releasing funds quarterly to the District to maintain roads but it seems money has not been put to proper use.
“We need to use the available funds to work on our roads instead of lamenting that the funds were cut. Use what is available to produce results,” Katumba emphasized.
Allen Kagina, the Executive Director Uganda National Roads Authority said that government plans to upgrade several roads in Luwero sub-region to improve accessibility so that the people can market their products.
Meanwhile, the head of State House Anti-Corruption Unit Brig. Gen. Henry Isoke said that they have already instituted investigations into service delivery in Nakaseke District.
“We shall leave no stone unturned in the District of Nakaseke ,” said Isoke.
The meeting was convened by the Prime Minister to resolve service delivery gaps in Nakaseke District.
End
