By John V Sserwaniko
State Minister for local government minister has reminded Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs) of the high levels of efficiency and service delivery expected of them under the Hakuna Mchezo term of government. She says that floppy CAOs won’t be tolerated any more. A tough-talking Namuyangu read the Riot Act to the CAOs last Thursday during the one day quarterly performance review meeting at Hotel Africana where all CAOs and Municipal Town Clerks converged to reflect on the past three months’ performance while laying strategies to do better in the next quarter. This was the 3rd time such a meeting was being held by the MLOG under the technical leadership of the PS Ben Kumumanya.
Saying it was high time CAOs became more efficient, Namuyangu enumerated things that in her view constitute laziness amongst CAOs who she observed are the CEOs of the districts where they operate.
WHAT SHE SAID:
Repeatedly quoting the good practices she learnt from the global conference she had just returned from, Namuyangu observed that there is a lot of money globally available to be won in grants for activities aimed at mitigating against climate change. “The information is online but you can’t become aware because you aren’t digital but you ought to be because you are a CEO. Let’s be active online and let’s go digital,” she said as she closed the meeting. She also said it pains her seeing CAOs doing nothing to tame the littering of polythene bags even when they clearly know it’s illegal.”People are throwing kaveera on the streets in your towns and the CAO just looks on and does nothing yet you have been to some of the best and cleanest cities in the world but you haven’t learnt much from there,” she said. Namuyangu also despised the idea of CAOs and Town Clerks frequently travelling abroad to run best practices for benchmarking purposes. She instead encouraged them to have twinning arrangements with fellow Ugandan cities which she said equally have great experiences to run from. “It doesn’t have to be a European city.
You can learn from fellow Municipalities within Uganda,” she said doubting whether local government officials in the Ugandan districts and Municipalities have so far learnt anything from the past twinning arrangements with European Cities. She asked the PS Ben Kumumanya, who had already hinted on the same, to become very restrictive when clearing CAOs and Town Clerks to travel abroad. She repeatedly accused them of laziness wondering why they can’t write competitive proposals that can win big grants globally available for climate change mitigation activities. Namuyangu, who repeatedly decried laziness among the CAOs and T/Cs, ordered the PS to ensure a functional name and shame mechanism is introduced in the ministry to regularly publish lists of worst performing CAOs and Town Clerks. “It should operate as both a rewards and sanctions system. Let’s praise those who do well and then name and shame those letting down the President,” said Namuyangu who is also Kibuku County MP.
DON’T FEAR
Reacting to death threats and intimidation CAOs sometimes face for their decisions, as was raised by Kabarole CAO Dunstan Balaba (who also chairs the committee of all CAOs) in an earlier submission, Namuyangu said: “Don’t fear to do the right thing. Do it and tell us to remove you if you feel that district has become unsafe for you. If you are being witch-hunted for doing the right thing, tell us and we put you somewhere else. You don’t have to die in that district. You can be transferred to where you can operate and serve your country more safely.” Namuyangu accused some CAOs of acting imprudently when it comes to managing human resources in their respective districts. Reacting to Dunstan Balaba, who in a very candid presentation had faulted fellow CAOs who stall recruitment until their own children, relatives and cronies qualify, Namuyangu rebuked the CAOs thus: “How do you have a Community Development Officer [CDO] serve as the acting Senior Administrative Officer [SAS]? You then return money to the center that was sent to you to recruit simply because you are waiting for your child to finish school and substantively take that job.” Other speakers furiously rebuked CAOs for this practice of returning money meant for staff recruitment because it’s hurting service delivery.
To further show the ineptness of CAOs in some districts, Namuyangu gave the example of a district she didn’t name that had kept someone acting as district water officer for more 10 years. “You know I like travelling to the field. When I was State Minister for water 10 years ago, there was this district where someone was serving as Ag. Water Officer and I revisited the district the other day and the guy was still serving in acting capacity,” Namuyangu said attracting applause from the CAOs and T/Cs. “That sounds familiar and its proof this lady did her home work for this presentation pretty well,” a CAO told another from the audience as Namuyangu made her speech closing the retreat. Responding to a powerful presentation by Mubende CAO Lillian Nakamatte focusing on the impact the President’s road construction units have created in the districts, Namuyangu vowed to crack the whip on district engineers who are sabotaging this initiative in order to embarrass the President and return to the old system of outsourcing because it’s how they get kick backs from contractors. Directly referring to Education Ministry PS Alex Kakooza who had spoken earlier urging CAOs to become more visible in monitoring delivery of education services, Namuyangu spoke of a private school in Masaka that for years was defrauding parents regarding UNEB exams. “Who is from Masaka among us here? The other day I was listening to Beat FM and I was surprised whether we have leaders in these areas. The head teacher would collect money from parents and go to Nasser Road to print UNEB exams that people’s children would sit thinking its authentic. He would even return fake results and make parents celebrate air,” Namuyangu said leaving everybody in the audience shocked. “I’m sure even when it was aired on public media [Beat FM], many of you are hearing it for the first time. The Beat fm presenters tricked the head teacher saying this is police calling.
He of course didn’t know he was live on air. He boldly offered them Shs2m to let him off the hook. They said its little money and he kept saying I can raise it more. All I’m saying is that we have slept too much on the job and let down the President and the people of Uganda. Let’s wake up and use our offices as CAOs to pressurize these DEOs and inspectors of schools to do their work.” Namuyangu, who many CAOs acknowledged for being hands on and practical in her approach, went on to say: “We have this other problem of health centers with expired drugs until MPs come and expose that problem. But you are resident in these areas. Why should it be the MP who works in Kampala to come with journalists to expose such things? You have a lot of staff at your disposal in the district. Please let’s make use of them.” Namuyangu also tipped CAOs to demand weekly reports from the departmental heads and reprimand whoever fails to account by producing such reports. “You want us to lobby for increased funding but how is that going to be achieved when the CAOs are just there sleeping on the job?” She also urged CAOs to read widely and be knowledgeable about basic things governing their work. “The other day we had a problem in Amuria district.
The councilors were voting to throw out the CAO using an old law and the CAO hadn’t guided them because even the CAO didn’t know the law under which they are proceeding was an old one not in force anymore.” She concluded by saying: “We can only be respected by the political leaders if we are well read and are in a position to guide them when they are wrong.” Finance Ministry Director Budgeting Keneth Mugambe made a moving presentation taking CAOs through Public Finance Reforms aimed at increasing efficiency, accountability and transparency. “As local governments, you have a very big role to play and it’s what I’m here to remind you about. Let’s not resist reforms. I have heard some people saying ‘but these reforms are becoming too many.’ Yes that maybe true but there is no other way to keep pace with the fast changing trends in the world we operate in,” Mugambe made his case attracting instant applause from the audience. To comment on this & other Mulengera news stories, reach us on 0703164755!
