Chris Obore
11 November 2007
Kampala — PRESIDENT Museveni has finally endorsed the appointment of a new head of immigration in a move that could bring efficiency to the agency and help repair its tattered image.
Mr Museveni directed the Ministry of Public Service to appoint Mr Godfrey Sasagah Wanzira, 46, to head the Directorate of Immigration, formerly a department in the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
According to sources in State House, although a spy chief in one of the security agencies eagerly expressed interest in the job, the President ordered that Mr Sasagah be appointed after the Pubic Service Commission recommended his name having excelled at the interviews.
Consequently, Public Service Permanent Secretary Jimmy Lwamafa wrote Mr Sasagah informing him of the job offer.
Sunday Monitor has seen a copy of the appointment letter dated October 19, 2007 and signed by Mr Lwamafa. "It is true I got a formal appointment last week. That is all I can tell you," Mr Sasagah said on Thursday.
The President by law approves all civil service appointments from the rank of commissioner upwards. Mr Sasagah's appointment comes after a protracted recruitment process that saw the initial attempt to fill the job cancelled and the position re-advertised.
The current immigration head Pearl Mutibwa had reportedly emerged best in that first attempt. Manipulation of the recruitment process by elements immigration was cited as the reason for the cancellation.
The post's re-advertisement attracted seven candidates including former state minister for security Muruli Mukasa, retired educationist Fagil Mandy, ex-Bungokho MP Seth Wambedde, city advocate and retired UPDF officer Lawrence Tumwesigye, Mr Sasagah and Ms Mutibwa.
The Public Service Commission communicated directly with individual candidates instead. "I have known that somebody has been appointed but I really don't know who he or she is," said Dr Steven Kagoda, the permanent secretary, Ministry of Internal Affairs, even though Mr Sasagah's appointment letter is copied to him.
Internal Affairs State Minister Matia Kasaija, however, said that Mr Sasagah is indeed the new director of immigration. "He is a very good and seasoned civil servant but our benefits are not as attractive as where he has been," Mr Kasaija said. "We are persuading him and I think we shall get him."
Mr Sasagah is the assistant director for legislative services at the Parliamentary Commission. Ms Mutibwa, remains a commissioner at immigration. Her chances of taking the job were jeopardised by earlier investigative reports, including one by a select committee of Parliament in 2005, into the operations of the immigration headquarters that did not conclude in her favour. It did not help that several staff also opposed Ms Mutibwa's promotion.
Sunday Monitor has seen a copy of a petition that was written to Mr Kasaija by immigration employees protesting Ms Mutibwa's management style. The Immigration Department was upgraded to a directorate following reports of corruption and inefficiency. For example, it has been easy for foreign wrongdoers to use Ugandan passports. Also, it is very easy for dubious aliens to enter the country and get work permits.
From a department that was headed by one commissioner - Ms Mutibwa - immigration now has three commissioners with a director at the top. Ms Mutibwa retains her position of commissioner immigration (in charge of work permits) while two more positions of commissioner in charge of legal services and commissioner in charge of citizenship and passport control were created.
The Directorate of Immigration is in charge of registration and issuance of passports to Ugandans, screening of aliens who enter the country, and issuance of work permits.
Two months ago, we broke the story of how President Museveni recalled the instrument of appointment of Mr Nicholas Ongodia as the new commissioner for citizenship and passport control. No reason was given, at least not publicly.
"Mr Ongodia's case is still with the President," said Minister Kasaija. "I don't know what is in his mind about it." Sources say Mr Sasagah's task at the Directorate of Immigration is clear: to restore sanity in a government agency that appears to have been turned into a centre of tribal clashes and outright corruption leading to loss of billions of shillings.
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