By Otim Nape
As part of the just-ended end of year retreat for Permanent Secretaries, head of public service Lucy Nakyobe (the event convenor and also secretary to cabinet) suggested that members pay an abrupt visit to Kalangala district local government headquarters to get to see for themselves the impact the ongoing government-wide reforms are having on service delivery for the people in this Island district.
Because the visit was unannounced, the technical leadership of the district was caught off guard. The visit happened during day time, which was working time but what was discovered left Nakyobe, who is always working hard to support the President’s agenda of effective service delivery, angry and remorseful.
The powerful delegation comprising of all the PSs (with exception of Ramathan Goobi who was away attaining his PhD and Dr. Diana Atwine who left to attend to some emergency matters) found no one was in the office. The Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) wasn’t in office and his deputy too was AWOL.
Ironically, there was no plausible explanation as to why none of these two very important officials was present at their respective duty stations. The only big technical person present was the Senior Administrative Secretary (SAS). He was clearly nervous as he faced the Nakyobe delegation and couldn’t render any decent explanation as to why the CAO and Deputy, who are supposed to supervise the rest of the civil servants for the district, were absent.
He tried reaching them via phone call so that the Local Government PS, Benjamin Kumumanya, would speak to them and they were unreachable.
Nakyobe, who is renowned for being public-spirited and strict disciplinarian, then wondered how service delivery is supposed to be effected for the people of Kalangala if indeed this absenteeism is what the CAO and his Deputy are synonymous with.
It emerged from ordinary members of the public, who had come to seek services, that this absenteeism is common among civil servants in the Island district of Kalangala, which is home to Gen Katumba Wamala among other big people.
The PSs’ end of year retreat, which reflects greater efforts by Nakyobe to build team work and cohesion while re-energizing the all-powerful Permanent Secretaries to work even harder going into the new year 2026, had the Gender ministry PS Aggrey Kibenge serve as the event MC. It was held at Brovad Sands Lodge Hotel Kalangala.
As delegation members burned in a rage, Lucy Nakyobe turned to face Local Government PS Benjamin Kumumanya who she directed to make sure he immediately works with her office (once back in Kampala) to have the Kalangala CAO and his Deputy severely sanctioned. That sanctioning might take a caution, suspension, total expulsion or even being comprehensively investigated by the IGG or the public service. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
