Advertise all KCCA vacant jobs, Solicitor General directs

Solicitor General, Mr Francis Atoke. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • Efforts to reach Dr Mbabazi by press time were futile as his known telephone contacts were unavailable. Justice Ochan in a text said he would only comment on the matter after reading the Solicitor General’s letter.

Kampala. The Solicitor General has asked the secretary to the Public Service Commission (PSC), Dr Geoffrey Mbabazi, to advertise all vacancies to avoid the ongoing fight for jobs at Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

The directive is contained in a June 12 letter. The letter, a copy which Daily Monitor has seen, was written by Ms Susan Odong on behalf of the Solicitor General, Mr Francis Atoke.
The Solicitor General’s directive was triggered by Dr Mbabazi’s request for opinion on the current controversy surrounding KCCA’s new recruitment which has left staff divided.

“…advertise the vacant positions so that those who were part of the transition period can apply and be considered to fill the positions in accordance with the Constitution, the KCCA Act and the PSC laws, regulations and the standing orders,” Ms Odong wrote.
On June 10, some KCCA dissatisfied staff petitioned the PSC chairperson, Justice Ralph Ochan, challenging an internal advert placed by the institution’s director, Mr Richard Lule. The advert had 200 vacancies.

However, they (dissatisfied staff) protested the advert, arguing that Mr Lule had flouted the PSC standing orders by opening the advert to temporary staff without first giving priority to permanent staff who already have instruments of appointment. The petitioners alleged that the new recruitment had been manipulated to suit specific individuals in the institution who are employed on temporary terms. They argued that internal adverts are promotional in nature where one must be a permanent staff appointed under a minute of an appropriate appointing authority.

“…in this case, the internal advert has been opened up to temporary staff who were not appointed by the appropriate appointing authorities making their appointments null and void and therefore cannot be eligible to apply. This is irregular and violates the Public Service standing orders and procedures,” they wrote.

They also reported to Justice Ochan that KCCA was handpicking individuals to work at KCCA without following legal procedures which has led to duplication of jobs, something they fear could affect performance.

Temporary staff
“…such manipulation of job descriptions and personal specifications in the job advert of June 6 has been tailor-made to keep individuals on acting roles which should be based on technical competence. This has caused a lot of loss in morale and dissatisfaction among staff,” the letter adds.
KCCA has at least 700 temporary staff who joined the institution under unclear circumstances.

This newspaper has further learnt that while all jobs were supposed to be internally advertised to allow officers compete for them, a list of 15 staff was sent to PSC ahead of the advert for promotion, something that further angered staff.

It is against this background that Dr Mbabazi sought the Solicitor General’s clarification on what the KCCA transition period was like and whether staff who were appointed temporarily to support the executive director can be regularised as formal employers.

However, the Solicitor General noted that the PSC recruited KCCA staff in 2012 hence legality for transition staff ceased.
But the letter states that where certain positions do not have persons recruited under the KCCA structure, then officials holding temporary or transitional appointment letters can be regularised through a national competitive process in accordance with the Public Service laws.

To avoid duplication of roles, the Solicitor General directed PSC to establish the positions to which appointment letters were issued after recruitment process following provision of the KCCA structure.

Efforts to reach Dr Mbabazi by press time were futile as his known telephone contacts were unavailable. Justice Ochan in a text said he would only comment on the matter after reading the Solicitor General’s letter.

Background

KCCA’s Public Accounts Committee (Pac) December 13 2018 report, a copy of which we have seen, shows that out of 280 candidates who had passed interviews in 2012, only 45 were offered jobs. “…the positions for which they had applied for were filled by other individuals whose recruitment didn’t follow the formal recruitment procedures and have held the same positions for a period exceeding one year as they are given temporary four months renewable contracts,” reads in part the report.

The report also poked holes in KCCA’s internal recruitment process for being illegally carried out without clear structures. The Solicitor General advised that all successful candidates who were not deployed in 2012 be given jobs to avoid losses which may arise from law suits.