Robbing Peter to Pay Paul
Emmanuel Mutaizibwa
The recent rationalisation program meant to rid the government of a bureaucratic structure is part of the much-vaunted neo-liberal orthodoxy predicated on a lean, efficient government and a private sector-led economy.
These radical reforms are not new but the urgency to re-introduce them has coincided with the growing antipathy towards the opulence of rapacious kleptocracies across sub-Saharan Africa.
In its October 2024 Africa’s Pulse report, the World Bank ominously warns that a combination of rising living costs, corruption, and bad governance across Sub-Saharan Africa, has morphed into a tinderbox.
The Bretton Woods Institute recommends comprehensive fiscal policy reforms, which could reverse the trajectory that favours the elite, which has fuelled a sense of economic marginalisation among low-income earners and disadvantaged populations.
But it is a fallacy to assume that phasing out agencies such as the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) and Uganda Coffee Development Authority (UCDA), which is anticipated to save Shs1 trillion, will assuage the plight of the underclass.
There is a need to avoid cosmetic reforms and avoid repeating costly mistakes. Rolled out between 1987 and 1992 to improve prudence and efficiency, Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) included a package of economic adjustment policies broadly divided into stabilisation and fiscal policies, supported by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
These SAPs resulted in the scaling down of the bloated civil service through the retrenchment of the civil service and army. However, the government introduced several agencies and departments and hired a large civil service to absorb loyal cadres.
As long as the country remains captive to clientele-patronage politics—the jet fuel of corruption, and bloated appointments in public administration meant to absorb obsequious cadres, the rationalisation exercise will largely be performative and equivalent to the metaphorical phrase of ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul.’
As the government lurches from one crisis to another, a new bottomless pit emerges barely after another has been sealed. Over 20 agencies have been absorbed during the rationalisation. Several other agencies were subsequently introduced including the State House Anti-Corruption Unit, the State House Investors Protection Unit, the State House Revenue Intelligence and Strategic Operations Unit, the State House Infrastructure Monitoring Unit, and the Health Monitoring Unit, among others. Many of these anti-graft agencies are duplicating the role of the Inspectorate of Government.
The 2023 annual report by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) highlights another contentious issue—salary disparities, which could derail the merger process.
For instance, legal professionals in various Ministries, continue to earn paltry salaries that have remained significantly lower than their counterparts in the Judiciary, Executive, and the ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.
The disparities are so stark that a legal clerk with a Diploma earns shs3,500,000 which is not taxed under the DPP, and an Assistant Commissioner of Legal Affairs with a master’s degree under other legal professions in public service earns only shs2,900,000 which is further taxed.
The annual salary gap between the highest-paid CEO, the Commissioner General URA, and the lowest-paid CEO, the Secretary of Uganda Land Commission, is UGX. 739,555,176, which consequently means that it would take the Secretary of Uganda Land Commission approximately 27 years to earn the same amount as the Commissioner General.
In FY 2017/2018, the salaries of Permanent Secretaries across all Ministries were increased to Shs15,400,000. However, these salary increments did not extend to other professional levels in the Ministries, and Local Governments indicating a significant disparity in compensation among different roles within the public sector.
The Commission’s report revealed that the country’s wage bill, which is at 11% of the national budget, is too big given the size of the country in comparison with other countries.
All local governments, including districts, municipalities, and sub-counties, were allocated Shs5.9 trillion for wages, non-wage expenses, and development, of which Shs3.3 trillion was earmarked for wages. The large number of districts in Uganda has led to significant overhead costs, directing the budget towards wages, which consume 0.59 percent of the revenue.
Under the third National Development Plan (III), Uganda moved from sectoral planning to program-based planning, selecting 20 different program areas. However, the Commission found that these 20 program areas are too many to deliver Vision 2040.
This is exacerbated by the bloated size of Cabinet and Parliament, which stands at 80 and 529 respectively, the expanding number of Resident District Commissioners, and the wasteful expenditure to purchase a fleet of expensive four-wheel drive vehicles for the highest-paid civil servants.
These policies usually favour the elite and canny political operators who are placed at the apex of the food chain at the expense of those in the lower rungs of the economy and worsen income inequalities.
Emmanuel is a journalist and lawyer.
