Prime
Stop role duplication in public service
Mr David Kalemera, the head of State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit. Photo | Courtesy of his X-handle
What you need to know:
The issue: Govt expenditure
Our view: What should be done is empowering statutory bodies like URA to deliver their mandate.
One of the major news stories of the past few years has been the rationalisation of government departments and agencies.
Several Bills were presented in Parliament to take some departments and agencies back to their mother ministries in a bid to save some money in public administration. Parliament approved some of the Bills with the aim of enhancing efficiency and optimising resources.
Back in April, Parliament passed five Bills related to this rationalisation.
In addition, so many agencies were ‘saved’. While so many Ugandans are bound to lose jobs and billions must be parceled out in compensation, the overall spirit was good.
This was supposed to be the start of trimming the cost of public administration, something that many Ugandans welcome. However, we keep contradicting ourselves at every stage.
President Museveni has again created another unit to ostensibly fight corruption, this time in the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA).
According to a short statement released by the Presidential Press Unit, the unit is going to be under the State House.
“The Presidential Press Unit wishes to inform the general public that the President…has created the State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit to do an oversight on Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) operations and fight corruption within the tax administration system,” the statement reads in part.
The statement adds that the creation of the unit will help the government close revenue leakages and boost tax collection. It adds that Mr Museveni has also appointed Mr David Kalemera as a senior presidential advisor and head of the unit.
The creation of this anti-corruption unit adds to a litany of statutory and other units created to fight corruption among different government agencies.
State House now has several such units such as the Anti-Corruption Unit headed by Brig Henry Isoke, the State House Investor Protection Unit headed by Col Edith Nakalema, State House Health Monitoring Unit headed by Dr Warren Namanya, among others. There is also a State House Land Unit headed by Brig Moses Lukyamuzi.
These join statutory anti-corruption units such as the Inspectorate of Government, the Auditor General, the Director of Public Prosecution, the Police Criminal Investigation Directorate and the Anti-Corruption Court, among others.
This is clearly a duplication of roles and adding layers of administration hence a multiplier effect on the cost of running government. What should be done is empowering statutory bodies like URA to deliver their mandate.
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