Senior civil servants awarded MBAs at ESAMI

By Francis Emorut                                        

A total of 29 senior civil servants graduated with masters of business administration (MBA) in a pilot tailored programme funded by World Bank at Eastern and Southern Africa Management Institute (ESAMI).

This follows a directive by President Yoweri Museveni to have senior public officers at the level of permanent secretary, undersecretary, director and commissioner undergo training in MBA to ensure efficient service delivery in the country.

The first deputy prime minister and the minister of public service, Henry Kajura, was represented at the closure of the programme at the Institute's headquarters in Kampala.

In his speech read on his behalf by the head of civil servants and secretary to Cabinet John Mitala, Kajura noted that the tailored MBA programme has been designed and delivered in response to the urgent need to nurture a public service that performs in a business-like manner and one which is responsive to the private sector in order to promote investment and growth.

"You may need to be reminded that His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in his great wisdom has persistently emphasized the above and pronounced MBA for permanent secretaries and their deputies as a mandatory requirement.”

The minister noted that in order to address this concern, the ministry of public service conducted a Training Needs Assessment that revealed lack of critical leadership and management skills within the public sector.

This, he said, resulted into the design and deliverance of this tailored MBA by ESAMI.

"The MBA programme, therefore, was a deliberate strategy to transform the Uganda Public Service by  bridging the current gaps in leadership and management skills in the Uganda Public Service, to enable leaders and managers adopt a 'business approach' to improved service delivery.”
 

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The second prime minister Gen. Moses Ali (right) and the head of civil service John Mitala at the ceremony. (Photo credit: Francis Emorut)

Kajura warned that graduates should implement what they learned in their work places or else they would be assessed afterwards.

"We want to see them thinking, seeing and doing things differently, and above all, mentoring and coaching other public officers.”

It was revealed that the Ministry of Public Service through Civil Service College Uganda is in advanced stages of developing and implementing a tracer programme that will monitor and evaluate the performance of the 29 officers who have completed the MBA programme.

"The results of the evaluation will inform the rollout of the programme to other public officers," said Kajura.

The closing ceremony was also addressed by the second deputy premier Gen. Moses Ali who represented the Prime Minister, Dr. Ruhhakana Rugunda.

Notable among the MBA graduates was the State House Comptroller Lucy Nakyobe, the Industrial High Court Judge Lady Justice Linda Tumusiime and the headteacher of St. Mary's Namagunga Sr. Seraphine Amulen.

The others included commissioners, town clerks and chief administrative officers.

In attendance was the director general of ESAMI Prof. Bonard Mwape and Government senior officials and World Bank representative, and others.