President Yoweri Museveni addressing a Government retreat
President Yoweri Museveni has urged all people serving in government to offer service to their nation diligently.
The President made the appeal Thursday while addressing a one-day retreat on Government half-annual performance during the 2011-2012 fiscal year, held at Kampala Serena Hotel.
Museveni, who said that some government officials are like the Biblical “hired hand” who don’t look at government work with commitment but rather as secondary and as a result this affects service delivery and national development.
The President also asked cabinet ministers to always endeavor to monitor, supervise and prevail over the activities of their respective ministries making good use of the much elaborate structures that exist in every government ministry.
He attributed poor service delivery by government departments more to lack of patriotism as opposed to lack of funds.
Museveni appealed to government officials to always emphasize timelines and the avoidance of unnecessary bureaucracy that harm service delivery.
The President appealed to Permanent Secretaries, Chief Administrative Officers, Town Clerks and Sub-County Chiefs, who are the custodians of people’s funds, contracts and personnel to guard against corruption.
He advised them to resist political influence from politicians, and always ask politicians “to put into writing all the directives they give to you as accounting officers” and strongly stressed that they should follow policies and guidelines set by the elected leaders.
Museveni also said that the elected leaders should also undertake the monitoring and supervisory role to ensure that the accounting officers implement very well the policies passed.
He urged them to always be firm while implementing government programmes and curtail resource waste.
The President asked the Ministry of Education to offer career guidance to students on the relevant courses that are on demand on the labour market.
Addressing himself to the agricultural sector, President Museveni emphasized the need for increased production using right varieties and focusing on agro-processing in order to add value to agro-products.
By Apollo Mubiru, The New Vision
