Gulu City does not often host gatherings of Uganda’s most senior administrative officers, but this week it did.
Undersecretaries, Principal Assistant Secretaries, Senior Assistant Secretaries, Assistant Secretaries and hospital administrators from across central government converged on Bomah Hotel for the sixth Administrative Officers’ Forum.
Presiding over the opening was the Secretary in the Office of the President, Hajji Yunus Kakande.
The four-day forum carried a theme that left little room for ambiguity: “Awake for Service: Professional Public Administration for Integrity, Accountability and National Transformation.”
Kakande’s opening remarks made clear that the theme was not just a slogan for the programme booklet.
“It Was the President’s Directive, Which Shouldn’t Be Turned Down”
Kakande used his platform to address a subject that has clearly been generating friction inside the civil service.
He urged Administrative Officers to embrace the wave of transfers currently moving through government institutions.
He said the changes had been directed by President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and should be implemented in the interest of effective public service delivery.
His tone toward resistance was blunt.
“I wonder why some of you don’t want to be transferred. How could you ask why you are transferring me and leaving the other one around? Actually, it was the President’s directive, which shouldn’t be turned down,” he said.
He reminded officers of the legal reality underpinning their jobs.
“In accordance with the law, you are required to serve in any part of the country. Now why are you refusing? Try to be flexible and professional,” he said.
His remarks land against the backdrop of a wider human resource shake-up across Uganda’s Public Service in 2026, in which the Ministry of Public Service has issued new establishment guidelines aimed at tightening HR management, professionalising cadres and improving service standards nationwide.
The Man Who Never Got Transferred
What gave Kakande’s message its sharpest edge was something he volunteered about his own career.
He disclosed that he has served in the Office of the President for about 40 years.
He was careful to frame that longevity not as personal preference, but as a decision made by others.
“I have been in the Office of the President for 40 years. It has not been my own making; it is because someone found it prudent that I stay,” he said.
That admission turned his call for flexibility into something more layered than a simple directive from above.
It positioned the man asking others to accept reassignment as someone who has spent four decades at the same institution, by the decision of his superiors rather than by his own request.
He extended the same logic to officers currently serving under him.
“There are some officers I have myself and I may defend them. I did not transfer them because I know that if I transferred them, it may not work,” he said.
In his telling, both retention and transfer serve the same underlying goal: matching the right officer to the right post, regardless of which outcome that produces for any individual.
Guarding Against the Anonymous Complaint
Kakande also used the forum to address a quieter form of internal friction.
He cautioned officers against writing anonymous complaints against colleagues as a way of engineering their transfer.
He urged public servants to focus on their own responsibilities rather than fixating on positions held by others.
He explained that some officers are retained in particular roles because of qualities and institutional knowledge that would be difficult to replace on short notice.
Widening What “Knowing Your Job” Means
Beyond the transfer debate, Kakande set out a broader vision for what he expects of an effective Administrative Officer.
He challenged officers to develop a wide understanding of how government operates as a whole system.
“The effective Administrative Officer must understand how the Government works as a system. An Administrative Officer should therefore not be knowledgeable only about his or her immediate desk or assignment. You must understand Government business beyond your immediate responsibilities,” he said.
He urged continuous professional development as the way to build that broader understanding.
“Read widely, consult, ask questions, participate in professional discussions and learn from experienced colleagues,” he said.
He also tasked administrators with tracking the laws, policies, regulations, procedures, programmes and reforms shaping their work.
“The Public Service is changing, and the administrator who does not continue learning will inevitably find it increasingly difficult to remain effective,” he warned.
Merit Over Tenure: The Undersecretary Shake-Up
Kakande devoted particular attention to a structural change reshaping career paths within the Administrative Cadre.
He said the decision to open the Undersecretary position to officers from other cadres marks a significant shift.
That shift, he said, requires members of the Administrative Cadre to demonstrate their value through competence and measurable results rather than assuming the position as a matter of course.
“Business can no longer continue as usual; you must actively prove your value through exceptional competence, quick responsiveness and measurable results,” he said.
He pushed officers to regularly interrogate their own contribution.
He challenged them to assess the value they add to their institutions, the skills they are acquiring, and their readiness for greater responsibility.
His conclusion on career advancement was unambiguous.
“Career progression is no longer guaranteed by tenure, but earned through merit,” Kakande said.
Building Successors, Not Just Careers
Kakande framed leadership itself in terms of what senior officers leave behind them.
He urged senior administrators to mentor and prepare junior officers for future leadership roles.
He argued that the strength of the entire cadre depends on how effectively senior officers transfer knowledge and develop successors.
“Occupying a senior position is not the final goal. True leadership is measured by the capable successors you build,” he said.
He called on Undersecretaries specifically to mentor, coach and delegate responsibility to junior administrators, while exposing them to different areas of government operations.
Integrity as a Non-Negotiable
Kakande turned next to the ethical dimension of the job.
He emphasised the need for high standards of integrity and accountability among administrators, given how much public resources, official information, procurement processes, human resource decisions and government records pass through their hands.
He urged officers to maintain impartiality, confidentiality, fairness and accountability while following established procedures.
“Your conduct must demonstrate that public service is a trust and not a personal entitlement,” he said.
He warned that indiscipline would not be tolerated, calling on officers to observe working hours, avoid unauthorised absenteeism, follow lawful instructions, protect government property and maintain professional relationships with colleagues.
On personal finances, his message was equally direct.
“Public service is not a path to sudden wealth. Live within your legitimate means,” he said.
He did, however, leave room for lawful supplementary income, encouraging administrators to invest in legitimate businesses provided such activities complied with the law and did not conflict with their official duties.
Hospital Administrators, Pay, and the Bigger Reform Picture
Kakande reaffirmed that hospital administrators fall within the same wider public administration system as their central government counterparts, carrying similar responsibilities.
He called for stronger organisation within the cadre to develop a clearly articulated scheme of service guiding career development and professionalisation.
On compensation, he pointed to recent progress.
“We recently met the President. Now the salaries were increased and the retiring Permanent Secretary also got a fair deal of Shs10 million per month. The Principals’ salary was also increased and the Senior Assistant, you are also coming in,” he said.
His remarks align with a broader 2026 public service salary restructuring that raised Uganda’s total public sector wage bill from roughly 8.6 trillion shillings to about 9.7 trillion shillings for the new financial year, alongside tighter recruitment and wage-bill discipline rules issued by the Ministry of Public Service.
Kakande also encouraged officers to make use of Uganda’s expanding access to higher education, pursuing master’s degrees and postgraduate diplomas to strengthen their competitiveness for senior roles.
PAAU: “There’s Been a Frenzy and Anxiety”
The outgoing Chairperson of the Public Administrators Association of Uganda, Dr Freddie Mugunga, offered his own reflection on the forum’s timing and theme.
He said the theme aligned closely with President Museveni’s message of “Kisanja No More Sleep, Kisanja No Corruption,” a phrase that has become something of a rallying cry across government departments during this presidential term.
He commended Kakande for consistently supporting professional development and creating space for administrators to meet, share experiences and address shared challenges.
“On behalf of the association, we thank you Hajji for always supporting us. We really needed to be gathering as members of the forum and you supported it wholeheartedly,” Dr Mugunga said.
He also thanked Kakande for mentoring administrators through difficult periods in their careers.
But Mugunga did not shy away from acknowledging the tension the transfer directive has created.
“Ever since the issue of transfers came into place, there’s been a frenzy and anxiety among the administrators. We shouldn’t be enemies of ourselves. Not every person will be promoted,” he said.
He reminded colleagues that serving in different ministries or regions is sometimes simply what government business requires.
“Some protest, but we remain steadfast,” he said.
He raised one additional concern of his own: reports that some Ministers have declined to work with Personal Assistants deployed from the Public Service, a friction point he urged senior officials to help resolve so those officers could perform their roles effectively.
Four Days to Reset a Cadre
As the forum settled into its four days of sessions, the underlying message from its opening was hard to miss.
Transfers, merit-based promotion, integrity and continuous learning were presented not as separate initiatives but as different faces of the same reform push.
For a cadre currently navigating real anxiety over reassignments, the forum offered both a directive to comply and, in Kakande’s own career, a somewhat unusual argument for why some are asked to move while others are asked to stay exactly where they are.
