And there were elections in the public service

By Jim Mugunga

The circular was rather short and concise: the Public Service was to hold elections of office bearers in respective departments of government.

The criteria would be sectoral. In order to make sure that there would be no disruptions to service delivery and for lack of a better guinea pig, the process would start with the Ministry of Finance.

At the Ministry of Finance the majority wondered why the Executive had decided to use "this key ministry as the guinea pig".

But the Executive was adamant, "Why not?" they asked, "Yes, it is the engine ministry that drives the functions of all others. It finds the money, plans and allocates it.

The Ministry of Finance is thus responsible for all other programmes, complete with an oversight role to ensure government programme delivery and reconciliation of all promises made against deliverables and related expenditures, so we will start with it!"

 
The campaigns were soon underway, with the no nonsense Keith Muhakanizi first up on the podium, vying for the Permanent Secretary/ Secretary to the Treasury slot.

Momentarily as he took to the front, he did not ooze "the big man" posture - but he soon regained composure and became obviously comfortable with the microphone when addressing his crowd.

Naturally amiable, he has mastered the art of disarming even the worst of critics over the course of his career and so after a joke or two, he makes five key promises in his manifesto, namely:
 

    To pay salaries between the 25th and 30th day of every month

    To overhaul the pension sector

    To clean up and eradicate ghosts from the payroll   

    To expose, disappoint or sack non performing accounting officers
   
    To stay and or improve the positive trajectory of economic stability       

      
The media in attendance laughs in derision. Keith, as they popularly refer to him, is now tightening the noose that will eventually hang him, they think. How on earth will he reverse a tradition where public servants are used to receiving their salary in arrears?

How will a single crusader take on the deeply rooted pension sector whose machinations has made billions for those entrusted to manage it but opt to fraudulently benefit from it at the expense of intended beneficiaries?

Not to mention that a ghost free payroll and a shame-list of non performing "big men" who control cash as well as hire and fire was un-thinkable!

Not to be outdone and in true Keith style, our campaigner tells all present about his game plan to deliver the above promises. "I will work and move forward with those that are willing to walk the talk with me," he said. Then he boldly promised to resign his post if he fails to satisfactorily deliver as promised.

To prove he meant business, a week or so later he reshuffles personnel and the mandate of office bearers in the ministry he leads. He merges departments and creates new ones.

He pushes for excellence and denounces publicly mediocre performance. He walks the corridors of the sven-floor office block to directly and personally check on staff without notice.

He runs a walk-in, open door policy for staff and visitors alike. His catch phrase, "I have nothing to hide" becomes the mighty empowering statement that makes his department tick and push others to perform.

I turn around waiting for insightful Paul Busharizi to ask a pointed question…but he is not here! This was all a dream!

I wake up and stretch and wish once again for the complete roll out across the service of the promised performance-based contracts. In my view it is the nearest that the public service will get to testing its version of "electoral process" by measuring promises against deliverables. Awarding deserving winners and opening up the space to allow fresher or better talent to come through. 
   
However, the campaign promises are exactly the same that Keith made when appointed to the office he currently holds. Performance wise, together with his team, they have exceedingly surpassed their set targets.

They, in addition, have successfully delivered progressive-shock proof national budgets. Unfortunately, it is a thankless assignment and the team wins no medals.

Of course the jury is still out. The electoral commission (the executive; MDGs, CSOs, NGOs, business and investment fraternity and other stakeholders) have the final duty to truthfully and candidly make a professional evaluation of Keith and his team's performance thus far.

As we wait, I will bask in the glory of the recent official announcement by President Museveni that placed privatised companies among the top five out of the 10 top taxpayers in Uganda.

Further scrutiny of his publicised list last week reveals that at least over 20 of previously non-performing, burdensome, resource-draining state enterprises which either underwent reform, divestiture, IPO or restructuring, are among the top tax paying 100 entities in Uganda.

They contribute a respectable portion to the sh13,000b ($4b) of total national tax collections. On this measure alone, privatisation is after all not the monster that many choose to label it.

The writer is a Senior Public Relations Officer and Spokesman of the Ministry of Finance