PS Ggoobi rings massive shake-up in Finance Ministry

KAMPALA, UGANDA; The Secretary to the Treasury Mr Ramathan Ggoobi has shaken up the Finance ministry with a massive redeployment of staff affecting hundreds of civil servants in a bid to break the “silo mentality” at the treasury.

As reported by DailyMonitor on Friday, December 23, Mr Ggoobi who is also the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary has promoted about 30 economists to senior economist level; rotated and deployed within as well as outside the ministry an additional 23; while having another 34 assigned other tasks.

The affected staff include economists, accountants and procurement professionals deployed in the various ministries, departments and agencies. Several accountants and senior procurement officials attached to key dockets have been equally reshuffled and moved across ministries, departments and agencies of government.

Notable of the many changes made is senior economist Mr Magoona who comes in to replace Mr Laban Mbulamuko as the acting budget director. Mr Magoona was a commissioner in the public administration department (directorate of budget).

Mr Jim Mugunga, the Finance ministry spokesperson, confirmed the shakeup, but was quick to clarify that Mr Mbulamuko retired gracefully.

“The PSST implemented a ministry policy informed by rotation of common cadre staff to ensure promotions, redeployments and technical cross-germination to drive a more effective technical delivery across the Ministry and broadly MDA that we service,” Mr Mugunga revealed, refusing to disclose the other names of staff affected by the shakeup.

“The Ministry of Finance is keen to shift gears and do things differently in order to appropriately staff and deploy technical competencies within its ranks. The PSST is a keen promoter of the one government approach to doing business and rendering technical support,” Mr Mugunga said in addition to the changes made at the Treasury.

“The changes are intended to among others deliver services but also enable staff to move across to gain wider spectrum expertise. The days of technical monopolies are gone.” 

Sources close to State House told DailyMonitor that the shakeup, which Mr Museveni at some point described as “a ministry of thieves”, was ordered by the President in consultation with Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Mr Ggoobi and the Accountant General, Mr Lawrence Ssemakula. 

In the new changes, Mr Mugunga clarified that the PSST seeks to eliminate “operational tailbacks” in the economy and expedite the much-needed recovery in all sectors of the economy.

“As we roll out e-Govt and e-Proc, improvements in IFMS and PPPs etc. our relatively well-trained and grounded staff will be available for deployment within and beyond the ministry in order to enable skills transfer and capacity building. Others such as procurement officers and accountants are assignees to MDAs but remain MoF staff,” he reasoned.

The changes come barely four months after Mr Ggoobi used his authority as PS and fired more than 100 local government accounting officers over failure to submit their respective approved budget details on time. The accounting officers have since been replaced.

The changes described by ministry insiders as “a private sector mindset pill”, target among other inefficiencies; a “sluggish” and “disoriented workforce” at the centre of government efforts to speed up economic recovery in the new fiscal year.