The Ugandan Wire has exclusively learnt that the Cabinet of Uganda is set to endorse new nominees for the Board of the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).
According to the UBOS Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mr Edgar Mbahamiza, the names of the proposed new board members are before the Cabinet for approval.
This development comes while there is escalating concern and worry over the endorsement of a new board after the previous team’s term of tenure expired on June 30th, 2020.
Some members of staff within UBOS that we have talked to have welcomed the idea saying the formation of a new board is long overdue as they suspect that their absence may have been fueling financial misappropriations within the principal data collecting, processing, analysing and disseminating agency of the government.
The same staff expressed concerns over the staff rotations going on in the government body claiming the UBOS Executive Director (ED) Dr. Chris Ndatira Mukisa is “favouring” his close confidants.
The staff claim that Dr. Mukisa is ‘flouting standard procedure’ as he is allegedly favouring young and inexperienced workers in promotions over the older and more experienced members of the work force.
“Dr. Mukisa and his team are enjoying unvetted powers since the institution has no board to supervise them. As such, there are unsactioned expenditures, internal transfers and leverage to settle scores against staff he thinks are opposed to his leadership.” A source within UBOS told The Ugandan Wire.
When contacted, Mr Mbahamiza said the institution is undergoing transition at both strategic and operational levels – emphasizing that the changes and rotations are inevitable for the body’s operations going forward.
“All the UBOS staff and management are eligible for rotation without exceptions according to the Human Resource Manual. The staff rotations done by the ED have been done in his capacity as the CEO of the bureau and in accordance with the law, policies and guidelines.The bureau is run professionally.” Mbahamiza further clarified.
