Prime
IGG warns public servants against reporting late for work
Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Kamya. Photo | Peter Sserugo
What you need to know:
- She made the caution during her impromptu visit to the offices of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) on Monday where she found no employee apart from security guards and a cleaner a few minutes past 8am.
The Inspector General of Government (IGG), Ms Beti Kamya has warned public servants against reporting late at their work stations well knowing that the government business starts at 8am.
She made the caution during her impromptu visit to the offices of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Development (MEMD) on Monday where she found no employee apart from security guards and a cleaner a few minutes past 8am.
According to the IGG, late coming is partly an abuse of office which leads to delayed service delivery and underperformance.
“I am disappointed that we were here at 8 O’clock but business is just beginning at 9 O’clock. I do not know whether the Energy ministry business begins at 9 O’clock?” Ms Kamya queried.
“But I want to inform you that in government, business is supposed to begin at 8 O’clock,” she added.
The government Ombudsman vowed to continue with her impromptu visits to government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to do a spot check on the observance of government policies.
“We are inspectors and therefore, we are not supposed to announce our inspection visits. We want to find things the way they are without prior preparations,” she said.
She added: “All public servants must stay warned because they will not know when and where we shall conduct our next impromptu spot check.”
The permanent secretary to the Ministry of Energy, Ms Irene Batebe said Monday's late coming was caused by her early morning meeting with the permanent secretary to the Ministry of Finance and was not a routine for the ministry’s employees.
“Madam IGG just to clarify, the reason we were unable to start at 8am was because I had a morning meeting with the permanent secretary to the finance ministry, but we do apologise for the late start,” she said.
Meanwhile, the IGG also launched a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of syndicated corruption, abuse of office and operations mismanagement.
Ms Kamya unveiled a team of at least 10 Inspectorate of Government (IG) officials led by the director in charge of special investigations who preferred anonymity to carry out the investigations into the matter and present a detailed report to the IGG.
