Makerere tightens rope on staff absenteeism
From Left to right: Makerere University deputy VC (Finance and Administrations) William Bazeyo , Dr Umar Kakumba Deputy VC (Academic affairs), VC Barnabas Nawangwe and university secretary Yusuf Kiranda . PHOTO BY DAMALI MUKHAYE
What you need to know:
- Makerere University is Uganda's oldest institution of higher learning, founded as a technical school in 1922.
Makerere University has officially announced the implementation of a bio-metric attendance management system to mostly curb staff absenteeism, authorities said.
According to an October 12 letter from the Office of the University Secretary Yusuf Kiranda, the learning institution indicated that “the system is part of government’s integrated Human Capital Management System (HCM) to automate human resource management functions in the public service.”
During a special March 9, 2023 meeting, the University Council resolved to procure and deploy a biometric staff attendance management system to improve staff adherence to time and attendance of duty.
“The biometric system will be linked to the HCM time and attendance module,” the university secretary’s letter stated in part.
Meanwhile, the biometric attendance management system shall be a physical clock-in for staff at their respective duty stations but the letter addresses concerns of employees who may have activities outside their daily duty stations such as field assignments.
“Staff with official clearance to be away from their duty stations shall not be required to clock-in on the days that they have permission to be away from their duty stations,” the letter noted.
Additionally, the letter also revealed that management has commenced the roll-out of the biometric clock-in system at all Colleges and Administrative units, following schedules published by the Directorate of Information, Communication, and Technology Support (DICTS), at the institution, where ‘assigned technical officers shall capture bio-metric details (thumb-prints and facials) of all staff on the scheduled delays for each unit, as shall be communicated from time to time.
University authorities say “the biometric attendance management system is part of the ongoing digitalization processes as the institution continues to improve the system to achieve a full computerised access control system for all installations.”
Makerere University is Uganda's oldest institution of higher learning, founded as a technical school in 1922.
