Corruption Dominates Museveni’s Meeting with Permanent Secretaries

President Museveni had cautioned Uganda’s Permanent Secretaries against engaging in acts of corruption. 

“On corruption, you have the lead role because you are the one in charge of government money, personnel and procurement, constitutionally,” he said. 

The President made the remarks on Thursday, October 17, while meeting Permanent Secretaries at State House, Entebbe. 

The Permanent Secretaries from Government Ministries were led by the Head of Public Service and Secretary to Cabinet, Ms. Lucy Nakyobe. 

The warning comes against the backdrop of a huge public outcry over increased corruption in public offices, hurtining social service delivery. 

Earlier this year, Trade Ministry Permanent Secretary Geraldine Ssali was kicked out of office over corruption. 

The Education Ministry PS Kate Lamaro was also dropped. 

President Museveni also pledged to continue supporting the Permanent Secretaries to execute their supervision role as stipulated by Article 174 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, which includes, among others, implementation of the policies of the government and ensuring proper expenditure of public funds in the Ministry.

He further informed the Permanent Secretaries that socio-economic transformation can be achieved through the four sectors of the economy which include commercial agriculture with “ekibaro”, manufacturing, services and ICT. 

“This society must undergo socio-economic transformation. So, when the permanent secretaries and the top technocrats of the country understand this, it’s very good, and I’m very happy about that,” the President noted.

President Museveni also informed the Permanent Secretaries that the economy of Uganda had been able to grow progressively due to the correct ideology of the NRM government. 

“In our 10-point programme, we said for Uganda, we are going to use a strategy of a mixed economy. We may have some parastatals but the main economy will be in private hands so we moved from those mistakes of Obote, Amin and we gave the economy to the population that is why it is growing in spite of all the problems like corruption.” 

On the other hand, President Museveni was shocked to learn about the abuse of government salary enhancement strategy by scientists who are now rushing to apply for early retirement in order to benefit from the enhanced retirement package.

“The law should be clear that there should be no early retirement especially for the ones who have got an enhanced package. With an enhanced package, you should serve your term. They will not get that package. I’m going to write an executive order.”

The Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury-Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Mr. Ramathan Ggoobi who represented the Forum for Permanent Secretaries, commended President Museveni’s leadership which he is offering to the country and the region. 

“The Permanent Secretaries wish to commit to supporting your efforts in promoting Uganda’s socio-economic transformation through effective implementation of the various wealth creation programs, specifically the Parish Development Model to ensure full monetisation of the economy,” he said. 

He also pledged that as Permanent Secretaries they are right behind the President in the fight against corruption in the various ministries, departments, agencies, commissions and local governments. 

He further highlighted the various issues affecting wealth creation, development and service delivery in the country. 

“One of the issues is the corruption in the current procurement system which is riddled with several avenues of corruption which make the government lose huge sums of money, well knowing that most of our work is done through procurement,” Mr. Ggoobi urged. 

“The Permanent Secretaries are recommending that the time has come to have a proper functioning procurement system so that we can be able to save government money and also do work efficiently.”