Museveni appointees can deliver only if they work like big tech firms

For weeks now, President Museveni has been putting together a team of Ugandans he will work with as he embarks on his new five-year term in office. It seems he has successfully completed that task. We can now sit back and wait for the results.

Many Ugandans are sceptical that the appointees (ministers and others) will deliver because past promises have come to nothing. In 2016, for example, Mr Museveni won re-election promising that Uganda will attain lower middle-income status, or gross national income (GNI) per capita between $1,046 – $4,095. But Ugandans still have only his word for his promise.

Some Ugandans think nothing can change for the better as long as Mr Museveni remains in power — because, they say, he often gets in the way, especially if what his appointees want to do interferes with his political interests.

The President even makes glaringly questionable appointments because he wants to cater to political/regional interests. A good example is the appointment of a minister who was barely able to take oath of office due to poor health and old age.
Now let us assume, for argument’s sake, that the appointees will work without interference from the President and that they

will have all the support they need from him. Can they deliver?
In Uganda, and many other countries, the public sector, especially the civil service, does not have a stiff price to pay for being ineffectual. The civil service does not work for a profit, which is the be-all and end-all of the private sector — and often motivates and forces private sector employees to work effectively and efficiently.

In the private sector, nearly all workers are selected competitively. And the private sector’s employment competition is some of the fiercest. Last year, for example, Lontra, a UK engineering firm, advertised 10 positions and received 15,000 applications. For you to get hired for one of these positions, you must be one of the best of the best.

We see the same at Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, Netflix and Microsoft. Every year, around three million people apply for jobs at Google, but the company hires only 7,000. Candidates go through a nine-stage hiring process. Only those who will make an impact get hired. The competition is fiercer than that students trying to get into Harvard, Yale and Stanford face.

Performance at these firms, famous for innovation and creativity, is taken extremely seriously. Employees work tremendously hard, with managers setting ambitious and sometimes unrealistic goals. 

In 2015, The New York Times reported about Amazon’s work environment and said employees “toil long and late”. Emails arrive past midnight, the paper said, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered. 
You do not have that in Uganda. This week Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja arrived at her office a few minutes to 8am only to find no one had arrived and the office closed. 

Ministries that have done little or nothing and cannot even account for the money they get are given funds when a new Budget is read. In some government departments, it is more important to address the boss with the title Mr (or Dr) than to meet performance targets. 

Notice boards still have memos written when the new appointees were students in high school. Some ministers barely know Twitter, much less LinkedIn.

The civil service will never work for a profit, but it can and should adopt the work culture of the big tech companies. It is tried and tested — and works wonders.

Mr Namiti is a journalist and former
Al Jazeera digital editor in charge of the Africa desk
[email protected]    @kazbuk