By Amos Tayebwa MBARARA Rwampara District is struggling to deliver essential services after a severe... The post WAGE CRISIS! Rwampara District Runs on 46% Staff, Health Centres Hit Hard appeared first on ONLINE .
By Amos Tayebwa
MBARARA
Rwampara District is struggling to deliver essential services after a severe staffing crisis left the local government operating with only 46% of its required workforce, district leaders have revealed.
The shortage has affected several departments, with the health sector among the hardest hit as health facilities upgraded to higher levels continue to operate without adequate medical personnel.
Speaking during a district council meeting held at Kamukuzi Hill in Mbarara City, Rwampara Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Fred Tushabe Rugara said the district has repeatedly approached the Ministry of Finance seeking additional wage funding to enable it recruit more staff.
Rugara said the district leadership, together with the Chief Administrative Officer and LC5 chairman, has written several letters to the ministry, but the requests have not yet yielded the desired results.
“We shall not get tired to pursue this issue. We are continuing to push on. We have written letters and we are hopeful that very soon our requests are going to be put into consideration,” Rugara said.
He explained that once additional wage funding is secured, the district will be able to fill the existing staffing gaps.
“But currently we are badly struggling as we work within our means to ensure that services are extended to the people of Rwampara,” he added.
Rugara said the health sector faces some of the most critical shortages, particularly at facilities that were upgraded from Health Centre II to Health Centre III but did not receive corresponding increases in staffing.
He cited Kibare Health Centre, which he said is supposed to have 54 health workers but currently has only three.
The situation is also affecting maternity services at Kinoni Health Centre IV, where the facility is supposed to have three midwives but currently has only one.
According to Rugara, the shortage is making it difficult for the district to provide the quality of health services expected by residents.
He disclosed that the Ministry of Finance has already invited some Rwampara district officials to Kampala to undertake a wage analysis aimed at determining the district’s staffing and funding needs.
District leaders are now hoping that the exercise will result in increased wage allocations to enable them recruit more workers.
Rwampara LC5 Chairman Richard Owomugasho said the district has faced numerous challenges since it was created seven years ago, with inadequate staffing being one of the major obstacles to service delivery.
Owomugasho said the education sector has also been badly affected, particularly in secondary schools where the number of teachers is far below the required level.
He cited Bugamba Secondary School, which has an enrolment of about 1,600 students but only 18 teachers on the government payroll.
He said the shortage has forced parents to shoulder the burden of paying additional teachers to ensure that learning continues.
“The government needs to put Rwampara into consideration, especially the Ministry of Finance, because these staffing gaps are affecting service delivery,” Owomugasho said.
He appealed to the government to increase the district’s wage allocation so that more teachers, health workers and other critical staff can be recruited.
Meanwhile, Owomugasho clarified why the district council meeting was held at Kamukuzi in Mbarara City instead of Rwampara.
He explained that district councillors had travelled to Mbarara City for an induction programme at a hotel, after which they decided to hold their council meeting at the Kamukuzi Hill district council hall.
The meeting also enabled councillors to select members of the various sectoral committees.
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