Maracha District Service Commission on Spotlight for Picking Cow, Money as Bribes to Recruite Primary School Teachers.
The district service commission of Maracha which is constituted of five members, namely; Rev. Afayoa Amos, Mrs Aseru Mary, Mr Angudria Felix, Fr. Kasto Amudra and Mr Dracaku Felix as its Chairperson, has come under fire from politicians, activists and other concerned citizens in the district after recruitment exercise of primary school teachers were marred with irregularities and corruption allegations.
Five petitioners whose names have been withheld for security reasons, wrote a petition to office of LC V Chairperson for Maracha District Hon Obitre Stephen, complaining about a recently concluded recruitment exercise.
Brief fact findings by the District Executive Committee (DEC) indicate that;
1. some people who successfully passed the interviews were not given appointment letters,
2. there were also those whose names didn't appear on the shortlist but they were given appointment letters
3. and some of the people who didn't apply for the jobs were given the jobs.
4. Following the petition by the Whistleblowers, some members of the district service commission are asking some of the people they recruited, to bring back the appointment letters.
Hon Asea Bosco the councilor representing people of Ageyi Town Council, and doubles as the LC V Vice Chairperson and leader of government business, enlightened the council about the petition which the office of LC V Chairperson received from the petitioners concerning the recent recruitment exercise.
He said, the district had put an advert to recruit 76 primary school teachers, adding that, they were surprised to later on learn, the district service commission recruited 22 extra teachers bringing the total number of recruited teachers to 98 contrary to what they had agreed as District Executive Committee (DEC) and the district council.
Hon Mundua Patrick Jalison, the Councilor representing people with disabilities (PWDs) said, he expected district service commission of Maracha to be one of the best service commissions in the whole country Uganda because the commission has two clergy members; Reverend Afayoa Amos and Farther Amudra Kasto.
He stressed that, if someone is not satisfied fight with the activities of the Reverends, then there is a problem.
Hon Mundua who was in grief over yearly complains against the service commission whenever they are recruiting teachers or nurses or parish / Sub-county Chiefs or other Staffs, recommended the service commission to be investigated by independent agencies like IGG or Statehouse Anti-corruption Unit so that those found guilty would be apprehended as a deterrence for the rest.
Hon Alema Dicky the secretary for social services in the District, thanked the LC V Chairperson Hon Obitre Stephen for responding swiftly on time to call for them as DEC members to discuss the way forward after receiving the petition.
He said, after they perushed through the petitions, they realized the petitioners listed seven critical concerns in the petition.
Hon Alema who is also the Male councilor representing Workers in Maracha district affirmed that, people in Maracha District are tired with the service commission because every recruitment done in the district every year, people have never thanked the commission over the processes.
Hon Amaniyo Edisha the councilor representing people with disabilities (PWDs) said, she had on the first day rejected the vetting and approval of members in this service commission because she is tired of Christians whose conducts dent image of the District.
Oleba sub-county representative Hon Atiku Robert decried concealment of informations and corruption in the service commission, saying that, whenever there are advertisements and shortlisting, they put them on notice board but when it comes to selection of successful applicants, it's done through phone calls, which even most times involves asking for money as bribes.
He challenged the district officials not to sleep on their jobs, as he lists down sequence of issues / problems that came to public notice through Whistleblowers.
The recent interdictions were as a result of whistlblowers, this time recruitment issues has also come through whistleblowers, are we supposed to run the district through Whistleblowers ?, Hon ... asked in his closing statement.
The Whistleblowers should go ahead with their investigations and petitions, Hon Drimbaku William the councilor representing Nyadri South told the district council.
The councilor for Oleba Town Council, Hon Drani Silva requested the authorities in the district not to squeeze the entire service commission but they should rather eliminate those few pests that are spoiling the reputation of the service commission.
Hon Emilly Letasi the Councilor representing people of Maracha town council gave an example where, the position of Human Resource Officer for the maracha town council was recently recruited without adverts, and information is now circulating that, some service commission members are sending messages on WhatsApp to ask for bribe from this staff they recruited without advert.
I strongly disagree with the statement that, the service commission should not be blamed!
The problem is the service commission, Hon Andama William the Male councilor for Obiba sub-county strongly insists, as he wonders on why the service commission should take the powers of the council to recruit people on their own.
Hon Obitre Stephen the LC V Chairperson for Maracha District said, during their emergency District Executive Committee (DEC) meeting, they resolved the matter should be left as it is because the district currently has a lot of people under investigations.
He said, they warned the service commission members whom they summoned to attend the DEC meeting too, never to repeat such mistakes again.
The LC V Chairperson testified that, there are even some headteachers, some of which he knows and recently picked a cow as a bribe from an applicant who was not given the job.
The teacher is now disturbing me LC V Chairperson to intervene in the issue so that the headteacher can return his cow he gave as bribe for the job but he wasn't recruited, he noted.
However, Maracha constituency MP Oguzu Lee Denis who sits as an ex-officio member in the district council, asked the district leadership to put on hold all the recruitment exercise in the district pending critical investigation and conclusion by independent entities into this mess in the commission to avoid attracting unnecessary costs against the district if with time it is discovered that, some people are benefiting from illegalities.
Hon Oguzu alluded that, he has received complains from some of the people who were given appointment letters and now some members of the service commission are asking them to return the appointment letters.
During an interview with the service commission Chairperson, Mr Dracaku Felix castigated the LC V Chairperson for hiding some information during the council sitting on Tuesday 30-5-2023, to create an impression that, he is the right person who is working.
He said, the politicians are the same people collecting money from those applying for jobs.
Rt Hon Wanni Emmanuel the Speaker for Maracha District Council pronounced himself over the matter by adopting Council resolution to allow independent entities like IGG or Statehouse Anti-corruption Unit to come in with investigating the district service commission over the shameful allegations arising from petition the petition by Whistleblowers.
Rt Hon Wanni who said this matter is beyond the District council, tasked the office of RDC Maracha district to make follow ups in the probe with whichever investigation body will be assigned to handle the case.
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