Why works ministry wants recruitment of engineers centralized

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Works minister Gen Katumba Wamala has said it is about time to consider centralizing recruitment of engineers in government entities. 

According to him, this will heal endemic shortages of engineers in some government projects, especially roads, thereby easing bottlenecks hampering infrastructural development in local governments.

Speaking during the inter-ministerial meeting on the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area Urban Development (GKMA-UD) projects at Kampala Serena Hotel on Tuesday, Katumba said in several local governments, there are no qualified civil engineers, adding that where there are, some of the personnel employed are from other engineering professions who lack the requisite knowledge about civil works.

“I cannot withdraw an engineer who has messed up a project or road because he is not under my jurisdiction. And besides, there is also another aspect that this engineer at the district cannot have: career growth — because he or she will be in that district for life,” he said. 

These challenges, the minister said, have blunted his ministry's supervisory function of contractors in the country and that “guiding activities of contractors to ensure that due regard is given to the quality" in road construction is being affected.

He said the current challenges could be addressed through amendments in the law that require engineers and other technical staff to be recruited by their respective local governments in line with the decentralization policy. 

He highlighted that some local governments lack the capacity to attract these calibre of technical staff. 

“I think these are some of the things we need to look at if we revisit [the law through amendment].”

Beti Kamya, the Inspector General of Government making her remarks.

Convened by the Office of the Presidency, the objective of the meeting was to take stock of the progress of the programme and chart a way forward to challenges affecting the programme that is aimed at facilitating economic development through enhancing road infrastructure, and markets in eight Greater Kampala Metropolitan Areas (GKMA).

These areas include Wakiso, Entebbe, Kira, Makindye-Ssabagabo, Mukono, Mpigi and Nansana municipalities, and Kampala.

Lands minister Judith Nabakooba said the GKMA-UD programme bears similarities to the recently concluded Uganda Support to Municipal Infrastructure Development (USMID) programme, which was implemented by her ministry through a $150 million loan for a period of five years (2013 – 2018).

“We need robust monitoring and evaluation systems to detect implementation challenges early, especially regarding contractor performance and quality assurance to avoid contract issues we encountered during USMID,” she said.

Inspector General of Government (IGG) Beti Kamya, who was the Minister for Kampala when the GKMA-UD programme was conceived in 2015, cautioned against corruption in the project.

She said there have emerged a number of white elephant projects in the country in the past few years, cautioning the ministry to ensure that enough feasibility study, risk monitoring and assessment are done before committing the taxpayers’ money.

“I urge the committee of ministers to be very detailed and deliberate before anything is started,” said Kamya.

The GKMA-UD programme is worth sh2.2 trillion shilling co-funding from the World Bank and Agence Française de développement (AFD).