Rose N. Kafeero
Rose Kafeero describes the challenges she faced to implement “results-oriented management” reforms in the Ugandan government. While she believes that the mindset changed over the years and that budgets were prepared on the basis of outcomes, she says the impetus for outcome-based performance weakened when some of the managers leading these reforms left agencies. She also did not have full backing from top officials. She believes that other civil service reforms such as downsizing and divestiture of functions have been more successful. She outlines the merit-based selection process at both the national and district levels. She says that universities do not produce skill levels that match government requirements in some categories. She describes the difficulties of recruiting or retaining civil servants in some categories because of low pay and a failure to provide core benefits such as housing.
At the time of this interview, Rose N. Kafeero was deputy secretary of the Public Service Commission in Uganda. Upon graduation from university, she was appointed as a personnel officer and subsequently was promoted to higher positions. In 1992, she was elevated to head of department in the Ministry of Public Service and subsequently to her position at the time of the interview. In that position, she also headed the Department of Monitoring and Guidance, which served as the secretariat to the Public Service Commission.