KCCA sends 700 contract workers home

Over 700 Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) workers who have been serving on a four-month contract have been asked to handover their offices to pave way for the upcoming recruitment exercise by the Public Service Commission (PSC).

The directive was made by the executive director, Ms Dorothy Kisaka in a letter dated March 1, 2021 which was sent out to all affected workers last Friday.

According to the letter, a copy of which this reporter has seen, Ms Kisaka informed the affected staff that they had been appointed on local contract by KCCA for a non-renewable period of three months with effect from March 1, 2021 up to May 31, 2021.

She explained that all temporary staff would be remunerated as per their level in the current KCCA salary scale.

“...should you get appointed to your current position or any other position within KCCA or should your current position be filled by another person by May 31 2021, then this appointment will automatically be terminated,” Ms Kisaka wrote.

The letter adds: “You shall be expected to prepare a handover report not later than May 10 2021. Please note that the payment for salary for the month of May 2021 will on be paid upon confirmation of a satisfactory handover”.

The letter is copied to the deputy executive director, director internal audit and director administration and human resource.

Ms Kisaka’s letter follows an earlier Memo to all temporary staff dated February 12, 2021 where Ms Kisaka had directed the institution’s Management Executive Committee (MEC) and all city division town clerks to compel all temporary staff to re-apply for jobs.

She noted that the new recruitment instructions were a follow-up of the staff verification exercise, which was conducted last year and sought to address KCCA’s current recruitment irregularities.

“…I am, therefore, writing to urge you to inform and support our temporary staff about these decisions. Additionally, to engage the directorate of administration and human resource, who will provide the needed support to ensure a smooth transition and business continuity for the authority,” she wrote.

However, Ms Kisaka in her memo did not give findings of the verification exercise, neither did it state the total number of KCCA staff employed on both permanent and temporary contract.

KCCA's head of public and corporate affairs, Mr Daniel Nuwabiine confirmed that all affected workers have been notified.

He said that management will submit all the vacancies to the various service commissions so that they can be advertised.

"We are doing the recruitment in a phased manner and for now, we shall advertise about 319 key vacancies and when we get resources we shall be able to advertise the remaining slots. However, all the affected workers are encouraged to reapply, “he said.

Some of the affected who spoke to this newspaper on condition of anonymity expressed dissatisfaction, saying that they should have been regularised since they have served the institution for a long time.

“We thought management would regularise us but it’s not the case because we have to apply and compete with others. Therefore, we can’t be sure that we shall retain our jobs,” said one of the workers.

PSC chairperson, Justice Ralph Ochan told this publication that the commission will advertise the jobs as soon as KCCA writes to them.

“The commission only advertises jobs after the agency submits to it a list of vacancies to be filled. For now, we haven’t yet received any communication from KCCA but when we do, we shall advertise them immediately,’ he said.

In 2013, at least 280 candidates passed jobs to fill vacancies At KCCA. However, the then executive director Ms Jennifer Musisi rejected them on grounds that the institution was facing budget deficit.

The rejected candidates later sued KCCA and court ordered that they be compensated and redeployed.

Asked how the commission will ensure that all successful candidates get deployment at KCCA this time round, Justice Ochan said that they will first engage KCCA before they advertise the vacancies to ascertain whether there is money to pay salaries. 

According to KCCA’s payroll structure which this reporter accessed before the staff verification exercise commenced in December last year, the institution employed 1,133 workers.

But only 391 of these were employed on permanent terms while 742 are employed on temporary terms. The staff on temporary terms serve on four-month renewable contracts.

Majority of KCCA staff working in acting capacity have been in office for more than five years, which contravenes Public Service Standing orders that allow a government official to hold an office in acting capacity for only six months.

KCCA has 10 directorates, but only four of them are on permanent contracts while the other six directorates have no substantive office holders.

The President is by law mandated to appoint the executive director, the deputy executive director and directors at KCCA while the PSC appoints the lower staff.