State House must not meddle in public affairs
Sep 05, 2005
<b>A learned friend and astute analyst</b><br><br><b>Abu Mayanja</b><br>The struggle raging over the position of Assistant Commissioner (Construction Management) in the Ministry of Education and Sports could only take place in a banana republic.
A learned friend and astute analyst
Abu Mayanja
The struggle raging over the position of Assistant Commissioner (Construction Management) in the Ministry of Education and Sports could only take place in a banana republic.
The scenario vividly illustrates the difficulties facing those who are concerned with the building of institutions and procedures of government in these countries. As reported in a spotlight article in the New Vision last Thursday, the Ministry of Education “is embroiled in a recruitment scandalâ€.
Eng. Justus Akankwasa who holds a masters degree in engineering and has over 10 years’ experience and has been teaching at Makerere University was appointed to the post under Public Service Commission minute No. 333 of 2005 following his successful response to an advertisement for the job.
An attempt to alter the job description for the post to exclude requirements for a degree in engineering and registration as an engineer by the Engineers Registration Board (ERB) was successfully resisted by the ERB which pointed out that the job was essentially an engineering post.
Subsequently, Akankwasa was officially informed of his appointment in May by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education, Mr F. X. Lubanga.
After he had resigned his job at Makerere, and reported for duty at the Ministry of Education and ready to take over from Mr. John Nakabago who had been holding the post in an acting capacity, the Minister of State for Higher Education Simon Mayende stopped the whole process on the ground that Akankwasa was about to “eat†the place of a Musoga, Nakabago!
The matter is said to have been brought to the attention of the President who is reported to have sided with Nakabago with the result that the head of the Civil Service Mr. John Matala, wrote two letters to Lubanga directing that Akankwasa should not assume the responsibilities of Assistant Commissioner, and secondly, that Nakabago should continue acting in the post until the President took a final decision.
The permanent secretary now had the unpleasant duty of communicating this to Akankwasa, advising him to “psychologically†prepare himself to work under the man he had been appointed to replace.
Not unnaturally, Akankwasa found this unacceptable and this is where the matter appears to be resting, leaving Ugandans wondering how and when they will ever establish functioning institutions, procedures and methods of work that clearly spell out who does what.
In the first place, Nakabago is an accountant and not a graduate engineer. He is therefore patently unqualified for the job of assistant commissioner (Construction Management ) as advertised.
Indeed, since he had been holding the post but in an acting capacity when the advertisement went out, it must be concluded that he had been found incapable of fulfiling the requirements of that post.
If he has not yet attained retirement age and it is considered desirable that he should continue working, why has he not been appointed to areas within his professional competence?
For example, he could work in the office of the Auditor General or even that of the Inspector General of Government where they need accountants.
If he cannot handle such assignments, maybe he could be appointed on the political side of things, such as presidential assistant or presidential advisor or RDC.
Otherwise what has happened is clearly inimical to the goal of establishing or maintaining good governance in this country.
Public officers should be insulated from the hassle and bustle of politics.
They should be allowed to operate within the carefully defined and laid out rules governing the public service.
Article 166(2) of the Constitution which guarantees independence to the Public Service Commission (PSC) in the exercise of its functions should be respected.
The article says the PSC “shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority†when performing its duties “except that it shall take into account government policy relating to the public service.â€
It cannot be a matter of government policy that a particular post shall be exclusively filled by members of a given ethnicity, and even if this were so, the particular ethnicity should be able to put forward a candidate who meets the specifications of the job.
But why was it so important that this particular job should be preserved for Mr Nakabago, a Musoga? Why wasn’t he considered for another post like those we have suggested or even an ambassadorial job?
The answer might be suggested by the fact that the holder would be handling billions of shillings involved in the construction of hundreds if not thousands of UPE schools and classrooms as well as the community polytechnics.
It may not be altogether irrelevant to recall that there has been a great deal of outcry and dissatisfaction with the UPE school buildings that have been constructed within this period.
many of them have collapsed sometimes less than a year after completion. Perhaps this might have been one of the reasons for the authorities deciding that the key man in the area should be a qualified, registered graduate engineer.
Whatever the explanation, it is clearly undesirable that State House should be involved in these petty squabbles about jobs. And our people should be educated away from thinking — as they apparently presently do — that no problem, no difficulty can be resolved in this country without the personal intervention of the President.
President Museveni started getting involved with the Kampala boda-boda cyclists’ fees problems, then with the primary teachers’ salaries and Makerere University’s proposed fee increase.
On Thursday, the chairman of UTODA put safe vowed on radio that they would not leave the Masaka car park unless President Museveni himself went to Masaka and told them to move out. This was in apparent defiance of a High Court decision ordering them to quit the park.
I have also seen a copy of letter addressed to President Museveni by a defendant in a civil suit requesting him to intercede in a court case in favour of the defendant!
These and other instances of intervention by State House in matters of public administration and the operations of the courts of law would be subversive to the rule of law and our people should be dissuaded from entertaining them.
Abu Mayanja
The struggle raging over the position of Assistant Commissioner (Construction Management) in the Ministry of Education and Sports could only take place in a banana republic.
The scenario vividly illustrates the difficulties facing those who are concerned with the building of institutions and procedures of government in these countries. As reported in a spotlight article in the New Vision last Thursday, the Ministry of Education “is embroiled in a recruitment scandalâ€.
Eng. Justus Akankwasa who holds a masters degree in engineering and has over 10 years’ experience and has been teaching at Makerere University was appointed to the post under Public Service Commission minute No. 333 of 2005 following his successful response to an advertisement for the job.
An attempt to alter the job description for the post to exclude requirements for a degree in engineering and registration as an engineer by the Engineers Registration Board (ERB) was successfully resisted by the ERB which pointed out that the job was essentially an engineering post.
Subsequently, Akankwasa was officially informed of his appointment in May by the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education, Mr F. X. Lubanga.
After he had resigned his job at Makerere, and reported for duty at the Ministry of Education and ready to take over from Mr. John Nakabago who had been holding the post in an acting capacity, the Minister of State for Higher Education Simon Mayende stopped the whole process on the ground that Akankwasa was about to “eat†the place of a Musoga, Nakabago!
The matter is said to have been brought to the attention of the President who is reported to have sided with Nakabago with the result that the head of the Civil Service Mr. John Matala, wrote two letters to Lubanga directing that Akankwasa should not assume the responsibilities of Assistant Commissioner, and secondly, that Nakabago should continue acting in the post until the President took a final decision.
The permanent secretary now had the unpleasant duty of communicating this to Akankwasa, advising him to “psychologically†prepare himself to work under the man he had been appointed to replace.
Not unnaturally, Akankwasa found this unacceptable and this is where the matter appears to be resting, leaving Ugandans wondering how and when they will ever establish functioning institutions, procedures and methods of work that clearly spell out who does what.
In the first place, Nakabago is an accountant and not a graduate engineer. He is therefore patently unqualified for the job of assistant commissioner (Construction Management ) as advertised.
Indeed, since he had been holding the post but in an acting capacity when the advertisement went out, it must be concluded that he had been found incapable of fulfiling the requirements of that post.
If he has not yet attained retirement age and it is considered desirable that he should continue working, why has he not been appointed to areas within his professional competence?
For example, he could work in the office of the Auditor General or even that of the Inspector General of Government where they need accountants.
If he cannot handle such assignments, maybe he could be appointed on the political side of things, such as presidential assistant or presidential advisor or RDC.
Otherwise what has happened is clearly inimical to the goal of establishing or maintaining good governance in this country.
Public officers should be insulated from the hassle and bustle of politics.
They should be allowed to operate within the carefully defined and laid out rules governing the public service.
Article 166(2) of the Constitution which guarantees independence to the Public Service Commission (PSC) in the exercise of its functions should be respected.
The article says the PSC “shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority†when performing its duties “except that it shall take into account government policy relating to the public service.â€
It cannot be a matter of government policy that a particular post shall be exclusively filled by members of a given ethnicity, and even if this were so, the particular ethnicity should be able to put forward a candidate who meets the specifications of the job.
But why was it so important that this particular job should be preserved for Mr Nakabago, a Musoga? Why wasn’t he considered for another post like those we have suggested or even an ambassadorial job?
The answer might be suggested by the fact that the holder would be handling billions of shillings involved in the construction of hundreds if not thousands of UPE schools and classrooms as well as the community polytechnics.
It may not be altogether irrelevant to recall that there has been a great deal of outcry and dissatisfaction with the UPE school buildings that have been constructed within this period.
many of them have collapsed sometimes less than a year after completion. Perhaps this might have been one of the reasons for the authorities deciding that the key man in the area should be a qualified, registered graduate engineer.
Whatever the explanation, it is clearly undesirable that State House should be involved in these petty squabbles about jobs. And our people should be educated away from thinking — as they apparently presently do — that no problem, no difficulty can be resolved in this country without the personal intervention of the President.
President Museveni started getting involved with the Kampala boda-boda cyclists’ fees problems, then with the primary teachers’ salaries and Makerere University’s proposed fee increase.
On Thursday, the chairman of UTODA put safe vowed on radio that they would not leave the Masaka car park unless President Museveni himself went to Masaka and told them to move out. This was in apparent defiance of a High Court decision ordering them to quit the park.
I have also seen a copy of letter addressed to President Museveni by a defendant in a civil suit requesting him to intercede in a court case in favour of the defendant!
These and other instances of intervention by State House in matters of public administration and the operations of the courts of law would be subversive to the rule of law and our people should be dissuaded from entertaining them.