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Over a third of all government public service jobs were found to be held by people from western Uganda while nearly half of the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of government agencies are also from the same region.
Safia Nalule, the EOC Chairwoman pointed out while releasing the report on Tuesday, that while the Ugandan constitution emphasizes equitable access to employment opportunities among all persons, most of the regions have been shortchanged in job allocation.
“We want to bring to the attention of the government the imbalances that exist in regard to access to employment so as to influence policy and practices in the creation and distribution of employment opportunities,” she said.
According to the report, people from Western Uganda hold 4489 or about 36% of the 12520 public service jobs in the country.
Buganda region follows in this category at 24% followed by the northern region at 20% while eastern Uganda trails at 19%.
The report further found that up to 47% of all CEOs of government agencies are people from the West. The northern region holds 20%, followed by the central region at 18% while the eastern region has 15%.
Uganda, as several previous reports and opinion polls have shown, continues to struggle with a regional imbalance in employment and other opportunities.
A 2021 poll, for instance, found that more than 65% of Uganda believe that government jobs are not distributed proportionately.
In the report yesterday, the EOC recommended all public institutions should be encouraged to include in their annual performance reports the status of employment disaggregated by gender, disability, youth, adults, elderly, sub-region, and level of employment.
The commission also called up the Ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development to monitor public institutions and enforce the implementation of disability-friendly facilities by public institutions.