Africa-Press – Uganda. Various districts across the country have failed to attract candidates for vacancies over poor pay and lack of qualifications, Daily Monitor has established.
The staff gap has affected service delivery with funds returned to the Treasury.
In western Uganda, Ntungamo District has more than 10 vacancies such as district engineer, District Education Officer (DEO), human resource officer, commercial officer, principal auditor, water officer, senior environmental officer, district health officer, and district sports officer, which are not filled.
According to the deputy chief administrative officer (CAO), Mr Federis Kiiza, the lack of qualifications and inexperience of candidates has been a major hindrance.
The Mbarara District CAO, Mr Edward Kasagara, says most positions became vacant because there is little or no pay for the workers.
“There is no money in civil service, the government has no money. A district engineer for example gets like Shs1.5m, what is Shs1.5m when one has a family to feed, they would rather opt for private companies,” he says.
In Kabale District, the CAO, Mr Edmund Ntimba, says they have failed to attract civil servants because the job requirements are too high, and that most (would-be suitable candidates) shun the district as a hard-to-reach area.
Mr Ntimba says the vacant positions include district health officer, district education officer, and the district natural resources officer.
He adds that plans are underway to re-advertise the positions.
“The position of the DHO fell vacant in 2016 when the then DHO, Dr Patrick Tusiime, left the position to take up a new one at the Health ministry and since then we have not been successful in getting his replacement despite re-advertising the position severally,” he says.
Even when the substantive Kabale district education officer (DEO) retired in 2020, the position is yet to be filled while the district’s natural resources officer, Dr Rogers Akatwijuka, recently got employed at Kabale University.
“We are doing our best to have these positions advertised for possible replacement,” Mr Ntimba says.
In Kitagwenda District, positions of District Health Officer (DHO), assistant DHO and the district planner, are still vacant.
According to a notice from the district, which had marked March 14 as the deadline, eligible candidates were called upon to apply but a few candidates were attracted.
Three weeks ago, the district, carved out of Kamwenge in 2019, advertised seeking applicants to fill up 35 job vacancies that have been vacant for years.
The district authorities told Daily Monitor that whereas some of the positions had not attracted candidates until last weekend, other positions were still being occupied by personnel in acting capacities.
Mr Robert Abia Owili, the Kitagwenda District deputy chief administrative officer (CAO), says they have been advertising but some positions have never attracted candidates.
He cites positions such as district engineer, commercial officer, and district planner, which have for nearly four years not attracted candidates.
“Some people don’t want to work with the government, for example, here, no one has applied for the position of district engineer, they say they are better off in the private sector,” Mr Owili says.
The Kitagwenda dilemma is a portrayal of critical hurdles that district local governments, municipalities, and the newly-formed city councils across the country.
In Kagadi District, for the last six years, some positions are still vacant and the district has been operating without a an engineer since 2016.
Last month, the State minister for Local Government, Ms Victoria Businge Rusoke, while in Kagadi tasked the CAO to put up an advertisement calling for candidates to fill up the vacant positions.
In her report, Ms Businge said the five key vacant positions include district engineer, district natural resources officer, district health officer, principal health inspector, and district planner.
Both the natural resources officer and district health officer retired in 2019.
In Kakumiro District, the assistant CAO, Mr Joram Sekitoleko Ssali, says the district has failed to fill the posts of the district health officer and the district natural resources officer.
He says positions were advertised in 2021 and 2022.
In Masaka and Lyantonde districts, a total of 21 jobs have been advertised and some posts are hard to fill up.
Mr Emmanuel Peter Egwayu, the Bukomansimbi CAO, says people apply for the advertised jobs, but the available wage bill is not enough to fill all the staffing gaps at the district.
“When we advertise jobs, we get overwhelmed with applications but due to the limited wage bill, we fail to pay some of them and they quit,” he says.
“Some jobs are advertised frequently because local governments lose some workers to ministries and agencies due to high salary scales, for example, most engineers and health officers usually cross looking for green pastures,” Mr William Kamara, the Rakai CAO, says.
Service commission
In Jinja City, the deputy mayor, Ms Fazira Kawuma, said there was a delay in forming the City Service Commission due to the alleged failure by the government to grant permission.
She, however, adds that the Ministry of Public Service has just approved the names of the City Service Commission which is set to start recruitment.
Ms Kawuma adds that guidelines on job structures in the newly-created city delayed to come and the vacancies have remained to date although the job structures were recently sent.
In Buikwe, the district chairperson, Mr Jimmy Kanaabi, says most positions have remained vacant because there is no wage to pay workers.
He adds: “Most of the workers in the district are not substantive, but are in an acting capacity; so if they give us wages, we shall advertise those positions.”
The Iganga District chairperson, Mr Ezra Gabula, says the position of district engineer has been vacant for years, but there is one in an acting capacity.
“The position has been advertised several times but has not attracted anybody,” he says.
Meanwhile, in the Kapelebyong District, of the 12 heads of department, it is only the assistant CAO who is substantive, the rest are working under acting capacity.
Mr Emmanuel Opio, the Kapelebyong District information officer, says positions of sports officer, principal auditor, principal human resource, are vacant.
He adds that there is no clear timeframe as to when the positions of those under acting capacity will be confirmed.
In Koboko District, five positions have failed to attract candidates for the past three years, most of these positions have had acting staff.
These are DHO, district planner, chief finance officer, district commercial officer, and district engineer.
Mr John Bosco Akera, the Koboko CAO, says although they have advertised for the positions several times, candidates do not show up due to low wages and strict qualification requirements.
Mr Akera suggested that the Ministry of Public Service should loosen the conditions of qualifications.
Last year, Madi-Okollo District was embroiled in disagreements about having members of the Arua District service commission carry out recruitments.
They later seconded the Pakwach District service commission, which then conducted the recruitment but many of the recruits were rejected.
Pader District experiences the same problem. This newspaper established that the only substantive head of department is the district engineer while the rest are acting in their respective positions.
Other departments in the district without substantive heads include the chief finance officer, DHO, DEO, principal human resource officer, among others.
Its neighbour Obongi District is also grappling with recruitment challenges as it has failed to attract candidates in some key positions according to the CAO, Mr Charles Ouma.
He says: “The district failed to attract suitable candidates to the position of district engineer, DHO, district natural resources officer, district production officer, among other positions in the health department.”
However, Mr Richard Edema, the Adjumani District deputy CAO, says the position of the district engineer has failed to attract a suitable candidate since 2008 when the substantive district engineer retired.
In West Nile region, of the 11 districts, only five have substantive DHOs while the rest of the districts have officers in acting positions.
Challenges in Gulu
Last year, Gulu District Council directed the district CAO, Mr Geoffrey Okaka, to hire a service commission from another district to recruit staff into vacant positions.
Due to vacant positions, the district was meant to refund unspent funds worth Shs3 billion to the Treasury. Wage analysis documents that Daily Monitor accessed showed that of the Shs17.97 billion that the district approved, only Shs12.01 billion had been utilised by the end of April 2021. The document also indicated that the district had planned to use Shs3.37 billion between May and June in various activities, but failed due to lack of personnel.
Even if the positions were occupied and work done, the document showed that the district had already mapped Shs2.56 billion to be returned to the Treasury.
The most critical vacant positions are the district health officer and district engineer.
“Other departments in demand of staff include works, planning and trade commerce, industry and local economic development department among others,” Mr Okaka says.
Gulu’s staffing level now stands at 80 percent. The district needs more than 40 personnel.
Since it broke away from Gulu, Omoro District has been operating without a substantive chief financial officer, DHO, as well as district engineer, among other positions.
By Tobbias Jolly Owiny, Michael Ojok, Philip Wafula, Abubaker Kirunda, Tausi Nakato, Denis Edema, Alex Ashaba, Alex Tumuhibise, Irene Kirabo, Robert Muhereza, Obed Kankiriho, Simon Peter Emwamu, Al Mahdi Ssenkabirwa, Wilson Kutamba, Felix Warom Okello, Rashul Adidi, Elly Katahinga, Sheillar Mutetsi, Perez Rumanzi & Felix Ainebyoona
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