GOVERNMENT SHOULD STAY COURSE ON PUBLIC SERVICE PAYROLL REFORMS

Last year the finance ministry instituted a series of changes in its payment systems aimed at plugging the holes that were causing major leakages of public funds.

Among the changes instituted were the consolidation of accounts and devolution of the payroll to the districts.

The measures are still being test run and teething problems are being worked out.

Previously a ministries, government departments and agencies (MDA) would open numerous accounts for payment to the payroll, suppliers of goods and services. Because these numerous accounts were difficult to track they were employed for siphoning money out of the ministry. The ultimate plan is to have one central account for all government transactions which will make it easy for the finance ministry monitor transactions in real time. In addition no expense can now be authorised without a previously approved work planned.

In an extension of this push for more transparency in government accounts the finance ministry now pays salaries direct to the accounting officers of districts according to a verified payroll by the Chief Administrative Officers (CAO) and his respective headmasters for instance. This way the cut out the public service and education ministries through which payments would be made, effectively reducing the surface area for theft.

A by-product of these changes is that some civil servants have gone without salary since the beginning of the year.

Last month Finance ministry permanent secretary and secretary to the Treasury Keith Muhakanizi placed an advert twice in the papers reminding 37 districts that had not handed in the verified payrolls of their teaching staff by the 15^th and again by the 23^rd April. It’s as if suddenly after all these years the respective accounting officers don’t know how to draw up a payroll!

The reason is not very hard to fathom. In many cases officials have padded the payrolls with ghost teachers, to now submit a much lower payroll numbers would raise eyebrows and even lead to prosecution.

Hence the reluctance in many cases to submit a cleaned up payroll. Or this maybe an attempt to create pressure on the politicians so they may direct a reversion to business-as-usual.

In one central Uganda district the payroll has now shrunk from 2,900 teachers to 900.

A cursory look over the budget performance for the last three quarters display a dramatic drop in the capacity of government to absorb the money when it is available. At the same time last year all ministries but one, had absorbed most of the money released to them, fast forward to today and these same ministries are struggling to utilise half the money  released to them.

If you are wondering how come there is no money floating around like it used to be, these initiatives maybe at the heart of the matter.

This raises some interesting issues not only about government operations but on the general economy. It is evident that billions – no hundreds of billions of shillings have been lost to government finding their way into the pockets of greedy officials. So failure of government delivery was not for lack of government funds but because of people working from the instance to subvert programs by stealing money. But maybe that is putting too high a premium on their motives, the simple truth seems to be that these people stole money for their own aggrandisement but not out of any allegiance to a higher power.

It also explains the real estate boom in Kampala in recent years. On a wider plane official figures show that the main drivers of growth have been construction and services.

One can expect that the beneficiaries of this scam are not going to take this lying down but will fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo, we can only hope the finance ministry can stay the course regardless of the short term pain we are feeling now.

WHY WE SHOULD ALL CARE ABOUT PRESS FREEDOM

Saturday, May 3^rd is Press Freedom Day. It maybe just another day were it not for the fact that freedom of the press touches on every sphere of our lives and – not to over exaggerate, makes the difference between us living lives of increasing affluence or wallowing in quiet desperation and poverty...

I will start by quickly admitting my bias on the subject.

My ability to do my work to the best of my ability is determined by the degree of press freedom in this country. The more the better.

But the importance of press freedom goes well beyond my improved wellbeing or that of any individual journalist or media house, press freedom is critical for the advancement of democracy in Uganda.

And why should we care about democracy or an increasingly inclusive political system? Because politics determines whether we will enjoy ever improving standards of living or not.

"The difference between the general well being of a Ugandan and South Sudanese or Kenyan or Rwandan is a function of the politic practice in the respective countries....

It is attractive to believe that if you have good leadership then the politics will follow suit.

But good politics, democracy comes from a constant interaction between the elite and the citizens where the interaction goes beyond elections every so often but also an ability for the citizens to question government policies, demand accountability and even have a realistic chance of proposing alternative policy.

Leaders good or bad, practice good politics, that is beneficial to the majority of people, only to the extent that they are held accountable for their actions by the people.

The main power centers in a political system are the government and business. But often times these two are in cahoots, conspiring against the ordinary person. Civil society then becomes a necessary third center of influence to check governments and business.

Enter the media.

At the basic level access to information is a tool for survival. In prehistoric times it might have been information about which plant to eat or not, which places to go or not or when to plant or not. In more recent times information that will further our chances of survival can be about job and investment opportunities, new findings in health research or even where to find a mate.

With all these benefits the importance of the media seems a moot point.

But it is as a result of these numerous benefits that the attacks on media freedoms are persistent and unrelenting around the world and not necessarily from the powers that be.

"Just because in Uganda we are not jailing or killing journalists or shutting down media houses at the rate that its happening in other countries does not mean media freedoms are not under attack. The attacks on the media may take the form of intimidation, commercial boycotts or anything that prevents the media house or its journalists from doing their job.

Whereas when we talk of press freedom the knee jerk reaction is to examine government’s record on this front, the general public are also guilty of compromising press freedoms.

Last year when two media houses were shut down, some activists called for a boycott of the New Vision, which is 53% owned by government. These “defenders” of press freedom had their reasons for this call all muddled up but it boiled down to since government had shut down these other newspapers, their media house should also suffer.

This playground logic would be all very well if not for the fact that it would still be curtailing press freedoms and would not necessarily resolve the issue of reopening the other media houses...

Unfortunately for the media they deal in an intangible service, whose benefits while they lead to a better standard of living are easy to underestimate.

Fear is a function of a lack of knowledge. To dispel fear you need to reduce your ignorance. To the extent that the media is free to go about its business is the extent to which people feel safer going to bed at night.

Of course the argument can be that the media can be used to inflame passions and fuel paranoia but if you look down history, the times when media have been able to do that is when they has been no press freedom. Where the information coming to the public is controlled and alternative views have been quashed...

Many perspectives even on the same story are useful in helping the public not only keep abreast of developments but also make informed decisions on what actions to take in given circumstances.

While the professionals who work in the industry are the direct beneficiaries of an improved media environment, it’s the everyday citizen who is the ultimate beneficiary of a free and fair press.

The US has had the debate on media freedoms for much longer than many in 1961 John F Kennedy while addressing the American Newspaper Publishers Association probably took the debate a notch higher when he said,

“Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive. [...] And that is why our press was protected by the First Amendment — the only business in America specifically protected by the Constitution — not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants" — but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.”

Enough said.

IS UGANDA'S A FALSE ECONOMY?

Last the week the Business Vision published a story about how new initiatives in the finance ministry may be partly behind the current cash squeeze we are all experiencing.

This is not to discount the crisis in South Sudan, which in recent years has not only served as ready market for our produce but has also been a significant source of liquidity into our market.

However the story about the finance ministry’s moves to block the leaks in government is significant on many grounds.

Government spending everywhere is the world is a key driver of economic growth. However how this money is spent makes the difference between whether the growth is experienced more equitably or is concentrated in a few hands.

"If government spending is targeted at infrastructure development and the shoring up of social services then more people benefit on a day-to-day basis but it also gives more people a chance to climb the social ladder and improve their standard of living....

If however monies are pilfered with impunity --- as was shown with the OPM and public Service ministry scandals, then the majority miss out on quality service while a handful of individuals live lives of the ostentatious consumption totally at odds with the reality around them.

A cursory look over the budget performance up to the third quarter on a handful of ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) had spent 80% of the monies released to them compared to the same time last year when most had consumed 90 percent and above of monies remitted to them.

Did the management of the ministries change? No. Did government release less money than was expected? Yes, but even the little government handed out was barely consumed.

So what has changed? The key seems to be an overhaul of the government payment systems which has introduced a combination of stronger accountability for expenditures, devolved the public service payroll to the local governments and introduced a single account from which all government payments will be made, which payments can be tracked real time from the  finance ministry.

It is strange that suddenly the MDAs are running smoothly despite getting a fraction of the funds they had budgeted for.

With these few initiatives government has stressed the business community and the economy by extension.

"Interestingly economic growth figures have consistently shown that most of the growth in the economy came from services and construction and not agriculture where the majority of the workforce was. These new revelations go some way in explaining why this is so...

For long people have argued that Kampala’s land prices were unrealistic. Land banking and speculation had become the favourite past time for many of Kampala’s elite. Until recently it was a given that if you bought some land today by this time next year you would have seen some serious appreciation in the market.

In fact the scandal in the public service ministry was burst wide open when one of the implicated officers beat one of our most seasoned real estate magnates to prime commercial property in the city.

Ugandans have become jaded and expect that this is just another anti-corruption initiative that will be defeated. There is cause for worry. You can expect that the main beneficiaries of these leaks are working tirelessly to subvert the system. One way would be not to access money even for genuine expenditures, cause an uproar and force the government’s hand in releasing money as usual.

We hope the finance ministry can maintain its resolve in taking this fight to its logical conclusion as it will make a difference between the benefits of our economic growth continuing to be enjoyed by a few at the expense of the vast majority.