The Ministry of Public Service has asked Parliament to support a Shs308 billion funding requirement to implement critical development projects, including the establishment of 19 Service Uganda Centres across the country.
The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Catherine Bitarakwate, told Parliament’s Committee on Public Service and Local Government on Wednesday, 05 August 2026, that the proposed zonal centres are intended to bring key government services closer to citizens while reducing the cost of maintaining separate regional offices.
Bitarakwate said the 19 centres will utilise existing Posta Uganda infrastructure to provide multiple government services under one roof, including passport services, driving permits, tax assessments, 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 said.
She explained that the Ministry of Public Service will coordinate the establishment of the centres, while the respective ministries, departments and agencies will continue providing services falling under their mandates.
“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.
The ministry also presented plans to expand the Civil Service College Uganda at an estimated cost of US$30.4 million.
According to Bitarakwate, the expansion is expected to address challenges faced by civil servants undertaking training at the institution while significantly reducing the government’s expenditure on training.
“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,” she said.
During the meeting, Koboko County MP, Hon. Emmanuel Banya, questioned whether the Ministry of Public Service was strategically positioned to lead the proposed one-stop service centre model aimed at improving citizens’ access to government services.
Lutseshe County MP, Hon. Isaac Modoi, meanwhile raised concerns about challenges arising from the government’s rationalisation programme, particularly its impact on employees and the effectiveness of merged institutions.
“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 acknowledged that the rationalisation process had presented challenges, including integrating different organisational cultures after agencies were merged and placed under various parent ministries.
She said the ministry is preparing a monitoring and evaluation report detailing the challenges arising from the rationalisation exercise and proposing measures to address them.
“For individuals who lost jobs during rationalisation, we are progressively fixing them in MDAs where there is attrition,” Bitarakwate said.
She also told MPs that the proposed ad hoc Salary Review Commission is being considered as part of the ongoing review of the Public Service Act, which she said would provide a comprehensive approach to several reforms being undertaken by the ministry.
The ministry maintains that establishing the 19 Service Uganda Centres will not only decentralise access to essential public services but also reduce duplication among government agencies and potentially save the government Shs286.2 billion annually.
