The Governing Council of the Human Resource Management Association of Uganda (HRMAU), has asked the Parliament to fast track the passing into law of the Human Resource Management Professionals Bill, 2023.

HRMAU is the umbrella body for human resource professionals in both the public and private sectors in the country.

According to the HRMAU’s president Ronald Kibuuka Bbossa, once the Bill is passed into law, it will establish the Human Resource Management Institute with its council as a regulatory body that will oversee the registration of members of the institute, the professional conduct of human resource management professionals and disciplinary measures for any misconduct.

“The moment the Human Resource Bill is passed into law, it will enable us to trap the professional growth of members to make sure that people who are in the profession are up to date with the most development,” Bbossa said.

Bbossa added that the Bill if passed into law will also mitigate the magnitudes of labour disputes because human resource officers will know that every decision that will be made at their workplaces will be subject to another level of scrutiny.

“Sometimes people (Human resource officers) know the right thing to do but they don’t do it because they are only looking at their employer,” Bbossa said.

Bbossa made the request on Friday (April 12, 2024) at Serena Hotel during the swearing-in ceremony of the new leadership of the association.

Francis Gimara, the chairperson of the Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets (PPDA) Appeals Tribunal and also the former Uganda Law Society president presided over the ceremony.

Underscoring the importance of the law, Bbossa said it will put all human resource managers in the country under one umbrella association.

Workers MP Margret Rwabushaija, the mover of the Bill said they are making consultations after she was granted leave by Parliament to table the same. 

Rwabushaija said that the Bill is timely as there is currently no legal framework to regulate the human resource management function.

“The absence of the regulatory body to set and enforce the required professional standards for the effective movement of the most critical resource has left many organisations operating under varied standards and increased unprofessional conduct,” Rwabushaija said.

Rwabushaija said the global and regional trends of free labour movements and the emerging opportunities call on Uganda to build the competencies of its labour force in order to compete favourably.

“Globally and regionally the human resource management function has become dynamic in order to cope with the social, economic, legal, political and technological innovation. For example, the revival of the East African Community has created new opportunities, standards and challenges that require member states to build the competencies of their human resources,” Rwabushaija noted.

Rwabushaija observed that many of the disputes before the Industrial court are caused by human resource managers.

Bbossa said issues relating to workers in the country are not well managed and it is important to standardise the conduct of human resource officers so that cases of staff are handled in a very professional manner.

“Traditionally, the person who is responsible for human resources at workplaces should be the first person to go to a colleague when there are challenges and problems at the workplace but when the people who are doing that are not professional, then you have a problem,” Bbossa noted.

The state minister for Gender, Labour and Social Development in charge of Labour, Employment and Industrial Relations Esther Anyakun implored human resource managers to serve with empathy.

She appealed to the leadership of the association to encourage human resource managers in all organisations to embrace the association in order to achieve their mission. 

The leadership

The new leaders for the association who took oath on Friday on a term of two years are Bbosa (president), Esther Regina Nampijja (vice president), Leticia Igume (Secretary General), Moses Wsawa (director public relations and marketing), Joyce Nakalema (director finance), Emmanuel Otim (director programs) and Andrew Kawesa (director professional development).

Others are Daniel Tugume, Joseph Rwabutomize and Innocent Dawa who are all committee members while Angel Ayebazibwe is a student representative. 

Currently, the association has over 1,400 people but Bbossa said one of the things they are lacking is a standardised mechanism of making sure whoever is called a human resource profession is held accountable for their actions. 

Bbossa said the association’s agenda is to standardise the human resource profession.

“In our advocacy, we want to make sure that human resource professionals are registered and they have an annual licence of practice which can be revoked in the event that the person is not living to the standard that is expected,” he said.

Bbossa revealed that they will hold a labour and employment law conference on May 23, this year to make resolutions on how to standardise the human resource profession in the country. 

Asked on what they are doing to support the workers who require psychological support, Bbossa said, “We intend to work with other associations so that they are supported because it is not only an issue of one employer.”