The Ministry of Public Service requires up to Shs308 billion to cover a funding gap necessary to support critical development projects under the ministry, including the establishment of 19 Service Uganda Centres.
Appearing before Parliament’s Committee on Public Service and Local Government on Wednesday, 05 August 2026, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Catherine Bitarakwate, said plans are in place to establish 19 zonal centres across the country.
She said the centres will leverage existing POSTA Uganda infrastructure to centralise multi-sector public services including issuance of passports, driving permits, tax assessments and payroll updates and pension verification, among others.
“Currently, individual MDAs run duplicate regional offices averaging shs200 million each, annually. Consolidating into 19 zonal centres eliminates overlapping structures and saves the government an estimated shs286.2 billion annually,” Bitarakwate noted.
She also highlighted the expansion of the Civil Service College Uganda estimated at US$30.4 million, which she said will address challenges faced by civil servants who train at the institution.
“Expansion of the college will reduce daily training costs to shs197,000 per person, generate an annual monetary saving of Shs6 billion to government, and increase non-tax revenue to Shs7.5 billion,” Bitarakwate added.
Hon. Emmanuel Banya (NRM, Koboko County) asked whether the ministry was best aligned to strategically lead the one-stop model service centres aimed at re-engineering citizen access to government services.
Hon. Isaac Modoi (NRM, Lutseshe County) raised concerns over the viability of government’s recent rationalisation process.
“When you merged government institutions through the rationalisation process, the challenges accruing from this process seem to be watering down the purpose for the mergers. What remedies do you have to ensure persons affected are catered for?” Modoi asked.
Bitarakwate explained that the mergers necessitated an integration of different work cultures from different agencies that were put under the supervision of different parent ministries.
“The ministry is going to come up with a monitoring and evaluation report of the challenges and how they can be resolved. For individuals who lost jobs during rationalisation, we are progressively fixing them in MDAs where there is attrition,” Bitarakwate said.
She also added that the proposed adhoc Salary Review Commission is being considered under the review of the Public Service Act, noting that this will give a comprehensive perspective to several other reforms under the Ministry.
Regarding the proposed one-stop service centres, Bitarakwate told MPs that the Ministry of Public Service is spearheading structures through which different government agencies will offer key services at a decentralised level.
“We are not the ones going to do immigration or issue permits, but we shall bring these entities under one roof which is the old post office buildings. This will enable quick access to information and services rather than having people travel all the way to Kampala,” she said.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
