Shocking reforms hit government jobs: Deliver or Go Home, civil servants told

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Uganda’s top civil servant has issued one of the clearest warnings yet to public officials: job security in government will increasingly depend on results, not tenure.

Lucy Nakyobe, the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, told senior local government human resource managers and secretaries to District Service Commissions that sweeping reforms are coming to a civil service long criticised for complacency, corruption and weak accountability.

Speaking at the National Leadership Institute in Kyankwanzi on April 28, Nakyobe said the traditional guarantee of permanent government employment would be redefined around performance. The remarks were carried in a statement issued by the Uganda Media Centre.

“We are going to change the clause in the standing orders which says that you are permanent and pensionable. We are going to add that you are permanent and pensionable if you deliver,” she said.

The message lands at a sensitive moment for Uganda’s public sector, where citizens often complain of slow service, absenteeism, patronage and poor treatment in government offices. Nakyobe’s speech suggested the state now sees internal reform as urgent.

She said monitoring, inspection, evaluation and supervision would be intensified across the service.

“Some of you sit in your offices and swing your chairs and forget why you are there. This is no longer going to be business as usual,” she warned.

Among the most striking proposals was a plan for regular transfers of permanent secretaries and heads of department, an effort aimed at breaking entrenched patronage networks and reducing the sense that some offices belong to individuals rather than institutions.

“The Permanent Secretaries and heads of departments have to be rotated regularly. You will serve for three years and be transferred so that someone else can come in.”

“This idea of a Permanent Secretary saying that this is my accountant or procurement officer, don’t shift him or her, is coming to an end,” Nakyobe said.

She added that officials who resist transfers would have to “pack their bags and go home.”

Her sharpest criticism, however, was directed at corruption and workplace culture within recruitment systems.

Nakyobe said some human resource managers mistreat subordinates and members of the public, while corruption extends beyond district service commissions.

“Corruption is not only in the DSCs; it is also in the Public Service Commission. I haven’t followed other commissions well, but at least I have heard a lot of reports of what is going on,” she said.

She argued that one structural problem lies in how District Service Commission members are appointed, saying those recommended through political channels may feel obliged to repay loyalty rather than serve merit.

“If somebody recommends you for a job, if you are lucky, that person is recommending you because you are competent, but he is also recommending you with an expectation that you will be loyal and serve his or her interests,” she said.

“I have recommended that we change the way of appointing members of the DSCs, as a way of fighting corruption, since corruption in the public service is not an allegation but a fact.”

That blunt assessment underscores a wider challenge for Uganda: whether state institutions can recruit on competence while resisting political influence and bribery.

Nakyobe reminded human resource managers that they shape the quality of the entire public service.

“You are the human resource managers and stewards of the workforce and therefore influence the workforce of our government. You shape the quality, discipline, productivity and the integrity of the public service. So, if the recruitment is compromised, this means that the system is weakened,” she said.

She also urged them to look beyond paperwork and staffing processes, saying they are responsible for the welfare of public servants as well.

Ben Kumumanya, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Local Government, reinforced the anti-corruption message, warning against the sale of public jobs.

“We want the population to come out and inform us of the corruption mayhem,” he said.

He said a circular had been issued requiring all local government job adverts to carry a disclaimer stating that no one should pay money for employment.

“Anybody asking for money to offer a job is doing an illegality, and that’s corruption,” Kumumanya said.

He acknowledged that enforcement remains difficult because victims often fear reporting wrongdoing to agencies such as the Inspector General of Government, CID and the Anti-Corruption Unit.

For ordinary Ugandans, the significance of these reforms goes beyond bureaucracy. Public service quality determines how quickly licences are processed, how fairly jobs are awarded, and how efficiently health centres, schools and districts function.

If the reforms are implemented seriously, they could reshape the relationship between citizens and the state. If not, they risk becoming another speech in a system still waiting for change.