The Permanent Secretary/Secretary to Judiciary, Mr. Kagole Kivumbi
Kampala. More than three months ago President Yoweri Museveni reshuffle the number of permanent secretaries, including Judiciary's long serving Secretary to the Judiciary (SJ), Mrs. Dorcas W. Okalany, who was transferred to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development.
The in-coming Permanent Secretary, Mr. Kagole Expedito Kivumbi, equally served in the Justice Sector for over seven years as secretary to the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
At the office hand-over ceremony on November 15, 2016, it was clear that the two accounting officers knew each other as they extensively exchanged pleasantries.
When he took on the rein she promised to build on the existing teamwork to have the job done. "Teamwork is one of the few things I cherish because I believe no one can work alone...I look forward to having an active working relationship with you to do what we are required to do," he said at the handover.
On February 24, Mr. Kagole made 100 days as the accounting officer of the 3rd Arm of the State. Contacted for an interview in this regard, he indeed confirmed there were notable initiatives,but said it was too early for him to discuss in detail. "I should be able to talk about what we are trying to do may be after 12 months," he said. However, the Judiciary Insider has been closely following the developments and here by highlights the new SJ's performance - the key measures he is putting in place to ensure availability of resources and efficient systems for the smooth running of the institution:
Revamped physical facilities: In the recent past, we have seen a number of idle spaces transformed into functional office space. At the High Court in Kampala, for instance,Court Room No. 4 which was for many years used for as storage space for junk office equipment and furniture, was by February cleaned up to accommodate the Criminal Registry.The Registrar, Criminal Division was originally sharing his small office with the registry's support staff.
Similarly, the large rented open office space on the floor of Twed Towers that went unutilized for almost a year, has since been partitioned to accommodate the busy and suffocated Court of Appeal Registry. The Registry has been housed in a smaller office which has been in a dire state for quite sometime - with large volumes of court files piled all over the place -contributing to the bad image of the Judiciary.
Financial discipline: There is increased stream lining of accounting and financial systems. Systems have been put in place to ensure prudent ways of handling finances.For instance, all units were tasked to develop work plans and strictly adhere to them.
At the moment, it is almost impossible for any unit to secure funds for activities outside work plans.This has enabled many activities to take place in the institution without suffocating the core activities of the Judiciary.
The new SJ agreed to continue paying the staff operational funds (OP) once every three months (Quarter), as a way of supporting proper planning and easy execution of core activities without unnecessary delays.
However, no payments are made before the officers' submission of accountabilities for the previous requisitions. An acknowledgement slip with the open registry stamp issued to confirm that the officer indeed submitted their accountabilities as required.
Where requisitions have to be done centrally, like in the case of all magistrates whose OP requisitions are coordinated in Kampala by the Registrar, Magistrates' Affairs, the beneficiaries' bank account details are provided for the advances to be paid directly there.Accountability for funds used in meetings and field activities have to be accompanied with the activity reports as further evidence that the activity indeed took place.
Fleet Management: Officers entitled to official transport have already noticed major changes in the Transport/Fleet section. The Unit was upgraded, not to be under the direct supervision of the Under Secretary, with the Transport Officer only assisting with the day-to-day coordination of operations. The pre-paid fuel vouchers are for emergencies.
Fuel is no longer drawn on credit, as it were in the previous arrangement with Total Uganda. The Total Plus fuel cards have been replaced with pre-paid UBA Bank Visa Cards in accordance with Government policy to give the entitled officers the flexibility to draw fuel from multiple filling stations, including the major suppliers like Total and Shell,across the country.
The biggest headache in the Fleet section has been with the garages handling the mechanical works. Mechanical bills in the five months preceding the new SJ's takeover of office stood at over Shs 1.6 billion. With the change of approach and enhancement of discipline in the fleet management system, the Judiciary has luckily no outstanding bills related to mechanical works -none at least the new SJ's first 100 days.
The Under Secretary, Mr. Muhindo Ngene,confirmed that vehicle maintenance and garage bills are managed within set financial limits. "So far we are able to save some money and vehicles can now be fixed without getting into debt. Servicing of vehicles is also prepaid as well as fuel for the vehicles," he said.Besides, the institution is so far, in position to plug wastage the monies it was incurring on vehicle hires for Judges and other entitled officers when their official ones breakdown.The specifics of how entitled officers are facilitated with transport, in the event of unavailability of a government vehicle are clearly set out in the respective appointment letters.
Payroll Clean-up: By November 2016, when the new SJ took office, the Judiciary payroll was over 2,100 staff, excluding judges and the contract staff payroll had 520 staff. In the past 100 days, a major payroll clean-up exercise was conducted- the permanent and pensionable staff payroll combining administrative staff, magistrates and registrars (only excludes judges)has less than 1,700. The contract staff payroll is equally shy by almost 200 members, as it stands slightly above 300 staff.
A similar clean-up exercise has been done on the Pension Staff payroll, which has since come down from above 450 persons to less than 400.
The weeding-out exercise discovered that some staff members who left the institution on transfer or otherwise and contract staff who left the institution continued to receive salary and allowances. An audit is still ongoing in respect of permanent staff to confirm those who are still in service. As a result, millions of shillings have been freed-up through this exercise and it is being directed towards Judiciary's core activities.
Reporting structures: Incidents of insubordination will definitely get minimized in this period. Whereas the new SJ partly believes in an open door policy - he practically leaves his office door open even when conducting important meetings - he does not encourage dealing with staff issues where unit heads are not involved/consulted. Many think this measure will promote harmony and teamwork amongst staff.
Tax compliance: It is important for every accounting officer to ensure that there is maximum tax collection for the government from all the eligible staff and service providers of the institution. The new SJ announced that it is his job to ensure that all non-Judicial staff comply with their income tax obligations as well as the National Social Security Fund remittances by the staff on contracts.
By December 2016, Mr. Kagole made it a requirement for all contract staff to first obtain and submit their NSSF numbers before accessing further monthly salary and allowance payments from the Judiciary. Similarly, Framework Contracts have been enhanced in the institution to ensure that there is no tax evasion by service providers.
Records management: Life is not the same again for anyone working in the Human Resources Section, the Judiciary Open Registry and the Accounts Section of the Judiciary -the units that heavily deal with a lot of paperwork and records in the Administrative arm of the Judiciary.
Shortly after his arrival, the new SJ discouraged the movement from one office to another, of loose documents like internal memos, official letters, requisitions, loose minutes and the like.Such correspondences are centrally handled and processed through the Open Registry and feedback finds its way back to the originator through the same office.
Documents are carefully attached to the official subject files and moved to the relevant offices for appropriate action;a practice that has not only enhanced records management but drastically lessened queues of people seeking to meet the permanent secretary over routine and obvious matters.
The procedure has been found quite useful, especially by the staff from countryside offices who simply courier their correspondences and requisitions to relevant offices through the Open Registry and there is no need for them to physically follow documents.
Human Resources Management: In a bid to boost efficiency in administration staff, there were a number of staff movements at all levels both internally and externally. Within the first 100 days of Mr. Kagole, some of the notable staff changes were in the offices of the Principal Accountant,Principal Assistant Secretary, Senior Assistant Secretary (Transport), Senior Internal Auditor, Senior Human Resource Officer, Accounts Assistants, Clerks and Process Servers, among others.
The new SJ has also announced that there will be strict adherence to staff performance targets and appraisals.Like never before, staff members are also closely monitored in terms of arrival and departure times - they are required to sign attendance registers as well as wear their staff Identity Cards at all times. Wearing staff ID is partly intended to curb the increasing cancer of people masquerading as court staff and conning unsuspecting court users.
There is no doubt that the Judiciary has seen a revolution since the new PS assumed office and the future looks brighter with the goal of improved service delivery.
Posted 20th, March 2017
