Madi-Okollo district struggles with understaffing at 28%

Madi-Okollo, Uganda | URN | A staff establishment status report for Madi-Okollo District has revealed a critical staffing gap affecting service delivery across nearly all departments. The report, compiled by Principal Human Resource Officer Lydia Apiru, indicates that the district currently operates with only 1,020 staff, representing 28 percent of the approved structure—far below the 65 percent minimum required by the Ministry of Public Service.

The education sector is the most affected, with only 813 primary school teachers and 90 secondary school teachers in post. Other critical gaps include just 10 agricultural extension workers out of the required 63, 168 staff in Primary Health Care out of 645, and only 13 staff in decentralized tertiary institutions.Madi-Okollo District Chief Administrative Officer Bruno Nawoya attributed the staffing shortfall to the earlier nationwide recruitment ban imposed by the government. He added that some advertised positions, particularly for heads of department, failed to attract qualified applicants.

Following the lifting of the recruitment ban, the district received clearance on September 25, 2025, to recruit 319 staff under a wage bill of 3.1 billion shillings, and an additional clearance on January 19, 2026, to recruit 30 more staff.

However, of the 349 positions cleared, only 201 staff were successfully recruited and enrolled on the payroll. The process later stalled after the District Service Commission’s term expired, preventing further recruitment activities.District Chairperson Ismail Drabe has appealed to the central government to grant special consideration to the district by increasing the wage bill and allowing more recruitment to address the staffing crisis.

Meanwhile, Madi-Okollo District Woman MP Joanne Aniku Okia warned that the understaffing is affecting performance across all sectors and called for urgent government intervention.

In response, Minister of State for Public Service Mary Mugasa acknowledged the staffing challenges and their impact on service delivery, but assured that the government is committed to increasing staffing levels to at least 65 percent, with priority given to districts with the lowest staffing levels.

The Local Government sector currently has the highest number of staff in the district at 226, although many key departmental head positions remain vacant. District leaders have also written to the ministry seeking permission to promote long-serving lower-level staff into vacant positions, but a response is still pending.

Madi-Okollo District began operations on July 1, 2019, at the onset of the COVID-19 lockdown, which disrupted its early operations. This was followed by a prolonged recruitment ban, only lifted in 2024, further constraining staffing due to limited wage provisions at the time.