Uganda Achieves Impressive Results In Reforming Public Service Sector

• Pages: 171-172

Page 171

The government set up the Public Service Review and Reorganization Commission in 1989 and, in 1992, launched the Civil Service Reform Program, based on the Commission's recommendations. In the first stage of the reform program-implemented in fiscal years 1993-97- the main objectives were to reduce the size of the public sector to manageable levels and rationalize salaries and noncash benefits. The results have been impressive: the program has eliminated about 44,000 "ghost" workers from the payroll, reduced temporary employees by about 60,000, and retrenched and laid off more than 50,000 civil servants. Furthermore, transportation and housing benefits are now provided on a monetary basis.

Improving Payroll Management

In January 1990, public service employees totaled about 320,000 (see table, page 172). They formed part of the central government, and were paid from the budget, as were university and local government employees. By the end of 1995, after the government had closed several ministries and regraded jobs, the number of central government employees fell by more than half, to just over 123,000. Two years later, this number rose by about 2,000, owing to an increase in the number of primary school teachers hired under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program, launched in early 1997. Deep cuts in the number of traditional civil service and support staff offset this increase, however, as the number of ministries declined from 34 in the early 1990s to 22 in 1997.

To reduce the size of the public service sector, the government applied several methods, including retrenching workers, removing ghost workers-workers who appear on the payroll but are not employed-from its payroll, and freezing employment growth by limiting hiring. In an effort to retrench workers, the government began enforcing retirement rules in 1988/89. The government supplemented this by laying off temporary workers, not renewing contracts, and abolishing the Group Employee Scheme in

1995, which had allowed civil service managers to hire non-pensionable, short-term employees. Eliminating this scheme reduced employment by about 30,000, and increased the transparency of the public service.

Between 1991 and 1994, the government was also able to remove about 42,000 workers from its payroll with the help of its Payroll Monitoring Unit, which had checked all entries and exits from the payroll. However, such...