By Aggrey Baba
The once-prestigious seat of “Director” in Uganda’s civil service is quickly fading into history, as the government’s restructuring of ministries, departments and agencies has swept most directors off the table, leaving commissioners to rise as the undisputed power holders under permanent secretaries (PS).
Directors have for years enjoyed status more than substance, supervising commissioners and standing in for absent PSs, but without independent budgets, their authority was often ceremonial. The latest reforms have stripped away this layer almost entirely, a move many see as the final nail in the coffin of a position that had long lost its bite.
Now, commissioners (who already controlled departmental budgets and ran the day-to-day engine of government) stand tall as they no longer report to directors but answer directly to PSs. In effect, the middle rung has been broken, tightening the chain of command from seven (7) links to five (5).
The reshuffle is not uniform, as a handful of director posts remain in powerful ministries such as Internal Affairs, Justice, Education, Works, and Health, as well as in statutory offices like the Directorate of Public Prosecutions ( DPP). But the axe has fallen hardest in Education, where the directorates of Higher, Basic, and Industrial Training have been replaced by new roles like Chief Education Officer and Chief Inspector of Schools. In Works and Transport, the sprawling directorates have been merged into a single Engineer-in-Chief’s office. At Health, only the Director General of Health Services remains, while hospitals return to being led by senior consultants and medical officers.
Observers describe the changes as both symbolic and practical. Symbolic, because the director’s chair has been stripped of its prestige, reminding civil servants that status without authority is like a drum without sound, and practical, because removing layers could speed up decisions and reduce duplication, even if the real savings in money are minimal. Yet the changes raise questions of accountability.
Commissioners now carry the weight of expectation, like oxen that once pulled the plough under a supervisor’s watch, they are now harnessed directly to the permanent secretary. If they falter, the entire ministry stumbles.
For the directors who remain, survival feels less like privilege and more like a countdown, while for those phased out, the fall is a sharp reminder of how quickly tides shift in government service. When the tree falls, the monkeys scatter, a proverb goes and in Uganda’s public service, the tree of the directorate has fallen, and it is the commissioners who now climb to the higher branches. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
