Leaders in the districts of Bunyoro and Tooro Local governments have noted that they are grappling with understaffing after the suspension of the recruitment of new Staff by the Ministry of Public Service. However, the Ministry of Public Service as per their plan gives reasons as to why it suspended the recruitment of staff. This is the report

Last year, the Ministry of Public Service suspended recruitment of new district staff following a directive by the Auditor General who halted the enrolment of new employees until his Office is done with the ongoing validation exercise of all Local Government Staff intended to ascertain whether they exist or not.

However, during a Regional Budget Conference for the next Financial Year 2024/2025 organized by the Ministry of Finance held in Hoima City, local leaders said the suspension has crippled service delivery in their respective districts because they cannot recruit the required critical staff to implement some activities.

Richard Rwabuhinga the President Uganda Local Governments Association (ULGA) who is also the Kabarole District Chairperson noted that last year the district sent back 2.5 billion shillings that were meant to recruit staff.

Adam Tumusiime, the Assistant Commissioner from the Ministry of Public Service who represented the Permanent Secretary says the government halted the recruitment of new staff in Local Governments after the discovery of irregularities on the current payroll.

John Muliroha, the Commissioner for Budget Ministry of Finance has appealed to local governments to make sure that they join hands with the Central government to achieve the budget objectives for the next financial year. He also noted that there is an urgent need to fight corruption.

The National Budget for FY 2023/24 was approved by parliament on May 18, 2023. The budget was increased from UGX 48.13 trillion to UGX 52.7 trillion for FY 2023/24 which represents an increase of 9.5% from the previous financial year.