Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa has cautioned parliamentary staff against seeking his intervention in the ongoing staff verification exercise, saying employees with genuine academic qualifications and proper appointment records should have no reason to worry.
Tayebwa made the remarks while presiding over plenary on Tuesday, a day after Parliament launched a two-week verification exercise covering more than 800 employees amid concerns about alleged irregularities in recruitment, promotions and staff deployment.
He said several employees had contacted him seeking assistance, questioning why staff with authentic documents would require his intervention in a process intended to establish the legitimacy of their employment records.
More than 300 employees are reportedly facing uncertainty over their employment as Parliament investigates concerns surrounding recruitment procedures and human resource management.
The exercise is intended to authenticate staff identities, academic and professional qualifications, appointment records and assigned responsibilities. It will also establish whether employees listed on Parliament’s payroll report for duty and perform the work for which they were recruited.
Tororo South County MP Fredrick Angura described the verification exercise as a routine human resource audit, cautioning against portraying it as an extraordinary undertaking.
Angura said the process would help Parliament establish the facts behind allegations of irregular recruitment, including claims that some employees were hired but never reported for duty.
He urged Parliament to use the findings to improve staff accountability, boost morale and strengthen service delivery rather than conduct the exercise as a procedural requirement without meaningful follow-up.
“What I want definitely this exercise to address is to re-energise all the staff and their responsibilities in terms of executing them for the good and successful delivery of services here in Parliament and for the country at large,” Angura said.
He added that any shortcomings identified in the recruitment process should be addressed through established human resource procedures, including publicly advertising vacant positions and giving qualified applicants an opportunity to compete for them.
Angura said the exercise was taking place as the new parliamentary leadership sought to reform the institution’s operations.
“There is a new Speaker who has committed to reset the operations of Parliament into a new factorial setting. So you cannot start to imagine what will come out before you move on,” he said.
On Monday, Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oboth-Oboth assured employees that the verification exercise was not designed to target particular individuals or lead to arbitrary dismissals.
He said the process formed part of broader efforts to improve human resource management and ensure that employees are assigned responsibilities that match their qualifications and experience.
The two-week exercise is expected to provide Parliament with a clearer picture of its staffing records and could inform subsequent decisions on employee deployment, recruitment and other human resource management matters.
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