Reduce on presidential advisers, MPs urge
Sep 02, 2008
The jobs of the 58 presidential advisers should be re-evaluated to reduce their number and the cost of public administration, MPs have said.
By Cyprian Musoke and Joyce Namutebi
The jobs of the 58 presidential advisers should be re-evaluated to reduce their number and the cost of public administration, MPs have said.
The committee on presidential and foreign affairs noted that the number of advisers has been increasing over the years yet there are no indicators of their performance. This was contained in their report on the office of the President, which was presented to Parliament yesterday.
“The committee learnt that there are 58 presidential advisers and their assistants who are highly-paid. However, the job descriptions, academic qualifications and expertise of these presidential advisers and their assistants were not clear and could not be linked to performance output,†the committee observed.
Although they noted that presidential advisers help the president to carry out his duties, they agreed that their number is too high to be sustained.
During its field inspections, the committee also discovered that resident district commissioners (RDCs) operated under stringent conditions. In most cases, they lacked vehicles, occupied dilapidated offices and were not well paid.
“The committee would like to note that the creation of new districts has led to an increase in the number of RDCs. As of July 2008, 29 RDCs and 53 of their deputies did not have vehicles. The committee also received claims that some RDCs do not satisfy the minimum qualification provided for in the constitution.â€
They said failure by RDCs to monitor, evaluate, inspect and report effectively on Government projects could be attributed to poor facilitation, unreasonable working conditions and lack of minimum requirements.
They recommended that the ministry for the presidency makes provision for increasing the budget in 2009 to improve on the facilitation of RDCs.
The jobs of the 58 presidential advisers should be re-evaluated to reduce their number and the cost of public administration, MPs have said.
The committee on presidential and foreign affairs noted that the number of advisers has been increasing over the years yet there are no indicators of their performance. This was contained in their report on the office of the President, which was presented to Parliament yesterday.
“The committee learnt that there are 58 presidential advisers and their assistants who are highly-paid. However, the job descriptions, academic qualifications and expertise of these presidential advisers and their assistants were not clear and could not be linked to performance output,†the committee observed.
Although they noted that presidential advisers help the president to carry out his duties, they agreed that their number is too high to be sustained.
During its field inspections, the committee also discovered that resident district commissioners (RDCs) operated under stringent conditions. In most cases, they lacked vehicles, occupied dilapidated offices and were not well paid.
“The committee would like to note that the creation of new districts has led to an increase in the number of RDCs. As of July 2008, 29 RDCs and 53 of their deputies did not have vehicles. The committee also received claims that some RDCs do not satisfy the minimum qualification provided for in the constitution.â€
They said failure by RDCs to monitor, evaluate, inspect and report effectively on Government projects could be attributed to poor facilitation, unreasonable working conditions and lack of minimum requirements.
They recommended that the ministry for the presidency makes provision for increasing the budget in 2009 to improve on the facilitation of RDCs.