DETAILS: Museveni Government Bans Recruitment of New Public Servants This Financial Year – Except Under These Special Circumstances

President Yoweri Museveni’s government, through the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development (MoFPED), has banned recruitment of new public servants this financial year, the secretary to the treasury, Ramathan Ggoobi, has informed all accounting officers of ministries, departments and agencies.

The ban on new staff recruitments will be effected in the current financial year (FY2024-2025) which began this month. In his July 2024 Budget Execution Circular, Ramathan Ggoobi, the permanent secretary of the finance ministry and secretary to treasury (PSST), noted that some accounting officers had made it a habit to “irregularly recruit permanent and temporary workers outside the available wage bill and then access them on the Government payroll resulting in shortfalls during execution.”

He further noted that this habit had already been “identified as one of the sources of wage shortfalls during budget execution which is unacceptable.” To cure this, he made it clear to all accounting officers that “there will be NO recruitment of staff (public service or contract staff) during the financial year.”

But PSST Ggoobi listed a few circumstances under which accounting officers of MDAs will be allowed to recruit new staff. These include cases of recruitment for purposes of replacement and in cases of incapacitation.

Government will also allow recruitment of new staff in cases “where funds have been provided for recruitment of teachers and health workers under theUganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Program Project for Uganda (UgIFT) Programme.

In the current financial year, new staff recruitments will also be allowed where there is “explicit clearance from both the Ministry of Finance, Planning an Economic Development and that of Public Service.”

“Accounting Officers are required to obtain clearance from the Ministry of Public Service before accessing newly recruited staff ‘on the payroll,” PSST added Ggoobi. “You must ensure that the wage budget is charged only for staff in-post and those who may have been recruited with the authorization of the Ministry of Public Service.”

The permanent secretary and secretary to the treasury also reminded accounting officers to ensure that staff wage payments are backed by information such as one’s National Identification Number (NIN), Tax Identification Number (TIN), Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) Suppler Number, and the Integrated Personnel and Payroll System (IPPS) or Human Capital Management (HCM) Number.

Ggoobi further told accounting officers to ensure that wage payments are charged against the wage item codes on the revised chart of accounts: 211101 for Public Servants recruited by the Service Commissions and Appointing Authorities, and 211102 for Contract Staff recruited under appointing Authorities, Boards and Councils.

PSST Ggoobi also ordered the deletion of government employees who refused to take part in the verification and validation exercise that was meant to weed ghost staff of the government payroll.

“It has been noted that may public officers missed the Office of the Auditor General’s verification exercise. The Ministry of Public Service scheduled a mop-up verification exercise for all officers who missed the initial exercise,” he noted.

“All staff who were not verified during the special audit by the Office of the Auditor General should be deleted from the payroll not later than 15 July 2024. The Ministry of Public Service is required to communicate the list of verified public officers to all Accounting Officers by 10 July 2024 for urgent action to be taken accordingly.”

As The Pearl Times has reported that over 7,500 government employees were deleted from the public service payroll. The Public Service Ministry also indicated that it had lifted the freeze on recruitment of government employees. (See Details Here and There).

In the last months of the previous financial year, Janet Museveni’s education ministry appointed secondary school headteachers and deputy head teachers. (See lists of appointed headteachers and deputy headteachers Here and There).

Meanwhile, Government has also increased salaries of police and prison officers. (See Details Here).