The Public Service Commission is conducting online interviews for 12,639 people who applied to fill 151 vacancies, the chairperson of the commission, Justice Ralph Ochan, has revealed.

He said it is the first time the commission is conducting e-recruitment.

The exercise is taking place at the Makerere Institute of Computer Science. It commenced on Wednesday and is expected to be concluded on Wednesday next week.

The available positions are for economists in the finance ministry, engineers in the energy and transport ministries, agriculturalists in the agriculture ministry and ICT professionals in the ICT ministry.

There are also vacancies in the public service ministry and others required, such as community development officers.

Ochan said the recruitment is under the Graduate Recruitment Programme and it is annual. Under the programme, fresh graduates are recruited into the public service.

He said 12,639 people submitted applications for the 151 vacancies and 9,804 will be subjected to aptitude tests to determine who progresses to the next level of assessment. The aptitude tests will be administered online, with the help of an e-recruitment system.

Ochan said at least 1,750 applicants will be handled per day. They will do the interviews in shifts of about 200 people.

Ochan made the remarks during a press conference at the Public Service Commission’s headquarters at Farmers House, on Parliament Avenue in Kampala, on Thursday.

Malpractice curbed

Ochan also pointed out that the e-recruitment system has also eliminated the malpractices in handling selection examinations.

“While using of the Internet, the commission has registered significant results,” he said, adding that now, applicants are in position to instantly view their score upon completing and submitting their work. This is unlike the old system (pen and paper) that was characterised by delay of results after sitting the tests. The scripts had to be manually marked, verified and a report submitted after weeks of waiting,” Ochan said.

He added that under the old system, some short-listed applicants would approach the commission staff to aid them to pass.

Special groups

Regarding persons with disabilities, the chairperson said the commission has put in place measures, such as provision of assistive devices, to enable them participate in the exercise.

He also informed journalists that expectant mothers and those with babies shall be given priority to access and sit for the test upon reporting to the venue.

He said the graduate recruitment exercise is an annual exercise of the Public Service Commission, involving recruitment of fresh university graduates into the public service.

“It is one of the main ways through which the commission fulfils her mandate of attracting competent and qualified personnel to the public service to deliver government services to the public,” he said.

Report corruption

The chairperson encouraged the applicants who were short-listed to report any form of malpractice observed during the exercise for appropriate follow-up and investigation.

“Applicants are also encouraged to report to us any corruption tendencies during the interviews and to the Police. The vacancies are not for sale and all the services we offer are free of charge. The Government facilitates all members and staff involved in this exercise,” Ochan said.

He informed journalists that the commission is working in collaboration with the health ministry to ensure availability of emergency medical services during the exercise.

He also appealed to the applicants to observe standard operating procedures. These include wearing of face masks hand washing of hands.

Over sh100m saved

Ochan explained that the introduction of e-recruitment has saved the commission about sh194m, of the sh250m previously used to hire at the Mandela National Stadium in Namboole.

He said the commission used to spend about sh80m on hiring tents and paying invigilators.

He said the commission has spent sh56m on the recruitment exercise this time around.