A former clinical officer at Bombo Health Center 111 in Luwero district pocketed 81 million shillings in ten years without working, the Inspectorate of Government has unearthed
In 2006,Habib Hussein was recruited by Luwero District Service Commission on probation as clinical officer and confirmed in 2008.
He was posted to Nyimbwa health center 1V and later transferred to Bombo health center 111 . The role of clinical officers include diagnosing, managing, and treating patients in the in health centers.
However in 2020,Habib abandoned the duties after he got a job at AIDS Healthcare Foundation a Non Government organisation as a full time clinical officer based in Masaka .
According to press statement released by Inspectorate of Government on Tuesday 10th March, Habib never resigned the job at Bombo Halth Center 111 and received the a salary until he formally left in 2020.
Habib concentrated on his NGO work in Masaka and subsequently failed to fulfill his obligations to Luwero district but received the monthly pay.
“His actions contravened section ( f-e) paragraph 1 of the Public Service Standing Orders 2010 that was in force by the time which states that a public officer shall not engage in any occupation or undertaking for gain outside his or official duties which will require his or her attention at any time during the official working hours ” IG Statement reads
The Statement further reveals that Habib Hussein admitted breach of the Public Standing Orders during investigations and agreed to refund the money which he irregularly received as salary.
The IG has since ordered Habib to refund the total amount of shillings 81,258,358 which he received as salary from Luwero District from August 2010 to January 2020 yet he didn’t work.
Hussein was ordered to deposit the money into the IG recovery account held in Bank of Uganda .
“His acceptance to refund the money affirms IG’s unwavering commitment to thoroughly investigate corruption cases to ensure accountability of public resources ” the IG statement reads
Luwero district paid salary to Habib Hussein for close to ten years which has raised concerns among local leaders and residents on lack of supervision in health centers.
It should be noted that there layers of supervision for health centers that include LC 3 , LC 5 Councils , District health department, Human Resource Office and Chief Administrative officer to ensure that a paid staff exists at the facility.
Osman Kassim Ramadhan the LC 3 Chairperson of Bombo town regretted the payments and blamed the Human Resource Officers for failing to detect the issue at time.
He however noted that in recent years that the Human Resource Officer has strengthened its policies which requires each staff to sign a staff list per month and approved by In charge of facility before its submitted to office for salary processing.
Kassim added that also the health centers have competent Health Management Teams that are supposed to monitor the staff performance and report to his council for actions.
Luwero District leadership is yet to comment on the scandal.
