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KAMPALA, UGANDA | THE INDEPENDENT | In an ongoing effort to streamline the public service payroll, the Ministry of Public Service has deactivated 4,149 employees across various ministries, entities and local governments.
Catherine Bitarakwate Musingwiire, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Service said that this action follows a second round of validation and headcount exercises conducted from March 11 to June 28, 2024, as recommended by the Office of the Auditor General.
“The validation report was submitted to Cabinet, and under Minute No. 347 (CT 2024), a Sub-Committee was appointed to refine the Ministry’s recommendations and provide feedback within two weeks. On January 9, 2025, the Committee convened and directed the deactivation of the identified records from the payroll,” Bitarakwate said.
According to the circular, the deactivation of 4,149 employees from the public service payroll includes 2,967 employees who failed to attend the second round of the validation exercise, 15 employees suspected to be ghost workers, 557 employees who continued to receive salaries after retirement or resignation, 368 employees confirmed to have absconded but remained on the payroll, and 242 deceased officers whose records were still active after their deaths.
From the analysis, it is estimated that gov’t will be saving a total of 2.51 billion shillings monthly from this payroll cleanup. Employees who missed the validation exercise accounted for 1.5 billion shillings, suspected ghost workers cost 9.2 million shillings, retired or resigned employees drew 538.3 million shillings, absconders 291.8 million shillings, and deceased officers account for 215.6 million shillings. These savings underscore the financial burden of maintaining an inaccurate payroll system and highlight the importance of this cleanup initiative.
Bitarakwate stated that all individuals in the aforementioned categories have been removed from the January 2025 payroll. She advised accounting officers to recommend any deactivated records eligible for reactivation to report to the Ministry of Public Service with a clearance letter personally signed by the responsible officer.
She emphasized that the clearance letter must be individual and not shared, accompanied by original academic and professional documents, original appointment and confirmation letters, original National Identity Card and employer Identity Card, pay slips for December 2024 and January 2025, as well as certified minutes of appointment.
“…(The clearance letter should be personal and not shared), original academic and professional documents, original appointment and confirmation letters, original National Identity Card and employer Identity Card, pay slip for December 2024 and January 2025 as well as certified Minutes of appointment,” she added.
She further noted that the opportunity for further validation would only be available from January 20 to February 7, 2025.
In earlier reports from July last year, the Ministry of Public Service had listed over 7,000 employees for removal from the payroll after failing to meet the requirements set by the Auditor General.
However, Bitarakwate noted that some of these cases were to be investigated further and reinstated if necessary, leading to the adjustments reflected in the latest review.
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