Lack of service commission crippling work in Bushenyi

BUSHENYI- Bushenyi District Local Government has spent two years without a District Service Commission (DSC), a situation which has crippled service delivery in the district.
The failure to constitute the DSC has been blamed on the confusion by the political leadership.

The Willis Bashaasha-led council had approved three members, including Ms Lydia Kamusiime, Mr Nathan Behangana and Mr Julius Ishungisa to the commission, who were also approved by the Public Service Commission (PSC).
The current district chairperson, Mr Jafarri Basajjabalaba, who assumed office in May last year, was expected to nominate two remaining members for approval by the council and the PSC.
He, however, ignored the three earlier candidates and nominated new five members, presented them to the council and PSC for approval.
The PSC rejected the nominees, insisting the chairman had to nominate only the two remaining candidates.
However, Mr Basajjabalaba is yet to heed the counsel.

The impasse has exacerbated manpower shortage in the district.
Bushenyi Chief Administrative Officer Elias Byamungu says they want to recruit primary school teachers but there is no DSC to do the work.
For example, 64 primary school teachers at the district and 24 teachers at the municipal council were not recruited in the Financial Year 2016/17 yet the central government had sent the money to cater for the exercise.
“We have now lost Shs3 billion that has not been utilised. There are gaps in the human resource; the district has no planning unit, chief finance officer, auditors in the municipal council and several heads of departments. We lack 100 teachers yet the money is there,” says Mr Byamungu.
Staff on probation have not been confirmed into the service and those who are supposed to get promotions have not been elevated due to lack of a DSC. This has affected staff motivation, which impacts negatively on service delivery.
Mr Byamungu says retiring and retired staff cannot get their benefits without the approval of the DSC.

The residents last Thursday staged a peaceful demonstration at the district headquarters calling for the establishment of the DSC.
Mr Apollo Lee Kakonge, the executive director of Western Ankole Civil Society Forum, who led the demonstrators, said: “The conduct of the political leaders, especially the district chairperson, is anti-people and government policies because it has affected service delivery in the district.”
He added that although the matter has been taken to the High Court in Mbarara and is under judicial review, the matter has taken long without being attended to.
“This touches the heart of service delivery and it defeats reason why it has now taken six months before it is heard. Justice delayed is Justice denied,” Mr Kakonge said.
Mr Basajjabalaba, however, argued that the earlier three commissioners were approved without the quorum.

He added that the matter is before court and waiting for the court decision is the best option much as he would have wanted the matter settled out of court.
“We are waiting for court and we have to respect it. We are actually looking forward to seeing how best we can settle the matter outside court,” he said.

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