A section of leaders in Karamoja have asked the Inspectorate of Government to take interest in the mode of recruitment by the Ministry of Water and Environment for Karamoja regional offices.
The leaders say the absence of Karimojong in these offices has made it hard for the region to realize meaningful projects in the area.
According to them, staff deployed to work in Karamoja regional offices often face language barriers, something they said at least having some natives in these offices would help address.
Mr. Paul Lokol, the former district chairperson of Nabilatuk, said their appeal should not be misunderstood as tribalism, but rather as a genuine concern if government is to render meaningful services to the community.
Mr. Francis Kiyonga, a seasoned politician in Amudat, noted that most projects under the Ministry of Water and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture have failed to be implemented in Amudat due to language barriers.
“When you go to the regional office of the Ministry of Water and Environment for the Karamoja region, you find that from the regional manager, water for production officers, drivers, sociologists, accountants, site engineers, secretaries, procurement officers, and even cleaners are not sourced from within the region; they are from other regions.
According to Kiyonga, they have learnt that top senior officials at the Ministry of Water are the ones influencing the recruitment of their own people into these positions.
“We have people who have attained similar qualifications with enough experience in these various fields; why not give them a chance as well?” he said.
He lamented that the advantage of having native people in these positions is that they can go and talk to the locals directly on any project without hiring a translator, who may end up giving wrong information to the community about the project if he or she has not been paid for his or her work.
