The Inspectorate of Government (IGG) is investigating Bugiri district officials for appointing a less qualified person to the positions of district health officer and senior health educator in the same district.
The officials on the spot include the chairperson of the district service commission, Agrey Ngobi, the chairperson of LC 5 named Davidson Mulumba Kasajja, and the chief administrative officer, Kisuule Mabanda.
This investigation was sparked by a concerned citizen and whistleblower who approached the IGG's office last month and asked them to probe the matter.
In a petition seen by this website, the district service commission of Bugiri district illegally appointed a one Akorikin Abraham, a non medical practitioner, to serve as Senior Health Educator in the Local Government of Bugiri.
"The same person is being referred to as the District Health Officer (DHO) owing to the powers he wields within the district," reads part of the petition.
It is established that for one to qualify for the position of a senior health educator, he or she must be a bachelor's holder in a health/medical education field and a technically qualified person with not less than three years of practice in the active health service.
However, the said appointee is a records assistant by profession with no qualifications to serve as a senior health educator as he has only certificate/diploma in records management.
According to the whistle blower, the post of senior health educator is available in the district hospital which notably has qualified people who have been ignored with impunity and malice even after awarding some of them study leaves and acquired the necessary academic documents and also binding them to serve within the district for over three years after qualification.
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Instead, Akorikin Abraham has been assigned to serve in that acting capacity now for the third time contrary to the Public Service Standing Orders (A-i) on appointment of duties in acting role after expiry of the first six months of appointment upon which a suitably qualified person is meant to be appointed to serve in the same capacity.
"To my understanding, this is imposition of the highest order because the person who was appointed to this position is not even a medical practitioner but rather a records assistant and not senior to any of the available trained officers at Bugiri hospital," the whistleblower said.
This website also established that this appointment has caused a rift among Bugiri district officials because some of them advised the district service commission to appoint from among the qualified individuals who were recently sent to school for capacity building and have already qualified with the necessary bachelor's degrees and are already in service at Bugiri district general hospital, but they refused to take this advice.
However, the accused chief administrative officer and chairperson district service commision claim they gave the said Akorikin Abraham the said post on assignment and that he has gone back to school now in first year second semester pursuing a bachelor's degree in Health Education and Promotion.
