THE Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba has said the government would not rescind its decision to start lending vehicles to the qualified senior public officials as part of measures to control public spending in the next fiscal year.

By lending the vehicles to officials, Dr Nchemba said maintenance costs will be upon the owners while fuel will be provided "in an appropriate manner."

However when debating the national budget estimates for 2022/23 fiscal year, some MPs were opposed to the move saying it was likely to halt jobs for some drivers in the public service.

But yesterday, the finance and planning minister said many countries in the world were doing so and that there was no plan whatsoever to change the plan, insisting that the jobs of drivers were still intact allaying fears that nobody shall lose his/her job.

In another development, the government directed all employers in the public service to prioritize areas and departments which have shortage of staff when seeking recruiting new employees, especially in the health and education sectors.

The directive was provided in the August House yesterday by the Minister of State in the President's Office, Public Service Management and Good Governance, Ms Jenister Mhagama, when responding to queries from lawmakers during the debate on the 2022/23 national budget.

According to the minister, although the country was still facing a shortage of public servants, if the newly advertised jobs are coming up with a recruitment which considers equality on the number of employees the problem would be reduced.

"My ministry has already issued a directive that all areas that have shortage of staff should be given priority and we want the employment opportunities to be provided basing on the requisite criteria and not favouritism," she said adding that the new employees are expected to report to their duty stations beginning the next financial year on July 01, 2022.