Civil servants in the Bunyoro sub-region have been challenged to resist the act of corruption and only focus their efforts on delivering inclusive services to the local community.
In a meeting conducted with civil servants in Hoima City on March 18 in the evening, Major Martha Asiimwe, Head of RDC Secretariat, Anti-Corruption Unit in the Office of the President, said corruption is a major enemy of service delivery especially amongst civil servants.
Maj Asiimwe has traversed the Bunyoro sub-region to assess the progress of development on government programs and aims to strengthen coordination among political, technical, and security actors at the district levels.
In Hoima City, Maj Asiimwe said that a common vice of corruption among local governments which needs to be tackled is selling government jobs.
She noted that poor Ugandan parents become poorer since they play different roles in educating their children and also provide jobs for their children. This, she said, pushes parents to lose their lands as they struggle to source funds.
“The evil which is rampant in this country is the selling of government jobs, selling jobs is like hot cakes and this involves service commissions. And this has made you turn into brokers of government jobs,” she said.
She warned heads of departments and civil servants against the misuse of their offices to promote corruption.
“As leaders, heads of departments, civil servants, your offices are the first line of defence against corruption. The misuse of funds under Emyooga, Parish Development Model, Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education must not be tolerated,” she urged.
Contractors who deliver shoddy work, absenteeism at health offices, theft of medicines, and illegal land evictions are all signs of failure in supervision, she said. “Let us renew our vigilance and refocus on service delivery.”
She called on different stakeholders including religious and political leaders; civil society and civil servants to intervene and fight the vice, which she said is eating up the nation.
According to her, government leaders are on the front line of the habit.
“Leaders should not fear to speak and expose the corrupt RDCs, civil servants and other security actors: remain vigilant, remain professional, and serve above self,” she said.
Maj Asiimwe called on leaders and civil servants to exhibit a high level of patriotism, transparency and accountability, adding that these factors are the hallmarks of good leadership.
She also underscored a need for leaders in the region to focus on job creation, increase household incomes, modernise infrastructure, and ensure that all Ugandans benefit from the peace and stability the country has achieved.
“Let us get our people out of subsistence and drive them into the money economy through practical tools like the Parish Development Model (PDM) and Emyooga,” she stated.
Edward Lwanga, the Hoima City Council town clerk commended the government for the support given to the city despite a couple of issues affecting service delivery.
Recently, he stated that the city service commission recruited teachers from different schools after receiving permission from the Ministry of Public Service but these teachers have not been put on the payroll.
As a result, the teachers have spent over six months without pay and “this challenge is affecting the education sector in the city.”
He added that Hoima City is also facing a challenge of inadequate funding and that this challenge needs to be addressed to foster service delivery.
Sylvia Nalumaga, the Hoima City Deputy Mayor, noted that the city faces a challenge of a lack of road equipment to work on over 600km roads, adding that the city hires road equipment which is costly.
She also said that the city is facing low revenue collection. The city’s local revenue budget is sh2 billion and sometimes they do not realise it, the deputy mayor noted.
Baduru Mugabi, the Hoima City RCC said that the city has benefited from government programs. The city, he said, has 16 parishes which have cumulatively received sh5.6 billion disbursed to 4,905 beneficiary households.
He added that 36 Emyooga SACCOs with 9,125 members have received sh1.5 billion from the government.
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