All isn’t well at the Ministry of Public Service based in Wandegeya where Catherine Musingwiire serves as the Permanent Secretary. In the recent past, many senior people have left this ministry and there are credible fears the worst is yet to come. Most of these pre-mature departures are because senior technocrats feel PS Catherine Musingwiire is too paranoid to work with. “She treats many of us with suspicion and whoever she sees; she thinks they are not honest people. Yes we understand there is a lot of fraud in some civil servants but people deserve a benefit of doubt rather than being judged prematurely,” said a concerned technocrat at the Ministry whose political head is old man Muruuli Mukasa. Besides Lynette Bagonza and Mr. Mugunga who left as Under Secretaries after being mistreated and demonized by Catherine Musingwiire, there are other technocrats desperate to leave fearing that the PS will soil their names at the earliest opportunity.
“She wants to show how intolerant she is to the perceived corrupt and to show the President no more scandals similar to the pension scam will ever be tolerated again but those of us she is witch hunting are innocent because, unlike her, none of us was part of the administration at the Ministry when the Christopher Obeys cheated the tax payer,” said another top technocrat that is disgruntled at the way much dreaded Catherine Musingwiire is running the show at Wandegeya. Salome Nyamungu who has been Director for Inspection and Quality Assurance is also leaving the Ministry in the coming few months.
She is disgusted and unable to work with Musingwiire hence her wish to leave early for her retirement. Some sources sympathetic to Musingwiire said that the lady from West Nile is opting for early retirement because she is overwhelmed by personal problems including the incarceration of her husband in Luzira. Nyamungu has been having a silent war with Catherine Musingwiire her PS who is understood to be scheming to have the much loathed Julius Victor Nkeramihigo successfully vetted and deployed as Under Secretary at the cracking ministry of public service. Musingwiire now fallaciously considers that many Under Secretaries are thieves and its only like-minded Nkeramihigo that is not a thief. Musingwiire, who has fallen out and chased at least three Under Secretaries in less than two years, is understood to be under the illusion that Nkeramihigo is the Angel she can do business with at the Public Service ministry but many who know Nkeramihigo well say a huge rude shock awaits her. Besides Nyamungu who critics dismiss as very belligerent, Mr. Abunyangu is another seasoned technocrat desperate to run away from Catherine Musingwiire who has clearly turned Public Service ministry into a torture chamber for those under her supervision. Abunyangu has been job-hunting and was recently on the verge of being recruited as the pioneer Director Legal affairs at Makerere University.
We are impeccably informed that he was supposed to take over from long serving legal manager Gobby Muhumuza who also applied but wasn’t rated the best for the job. However, Muhumuza’s supporters were relieved after Abunyangu declined to take up the offer on grounds that the gross monthly pay of Shs7.6m which Makerere is offering is way too below his expectations.
This means Muhumuza, who doesn’t mind working for so little, will continue holding forte in the Makerere legal department in which he has served since the days of VC Livingstone Luboobi. What makes matters even worse for Catherine Musingwiire is the credible rumor in the corridors to the effect that besides Nyamungu, there are two other very senior Directors who are leaving the ministry as well having concluded they are unable to work with the new PS. She is also feuding Adah Muwanga, the acting PS, she replaced. It’s claimed that Musingwiire feels proud and invincible (like the Kaginas once felt) because President Museveni, who had been deceived about her management capabilities, personally recalled her back to the Ministry to become PS from her early retirement in Fort Portal after being deceptively told she was among the few junior officers who unsuccessfully resisted the pension scandal orchestrated by Christopher Obey, the former Principal Accountant for the Ministry. For comments, reach us on mulengeranews@gmail.com
