Lamwo District Fails to Attract Applicants For Key Positions

Lamwo district local government has failed to attract applicants for various critical positions.

Last year, the District Service Commission advertised for positions that include District Community Development Officer, Principal District Internal Auditor, Assistant Accountants, Senior Clinical Officer, education assistants, Parish Chiefs, and Town Agents.

Other positions were the Natural Resource Officer, Production and Marketing Officer, District Planner, Commercial Officer, Chief Finance Officer, Anesthetic Officer, District Engineer, Assistant Engineering Officer, Principal Human Resource Officer/ Secretary District Service Commission, and Senior Assistant Secretaries.

The Lamwo Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Moses Echat says that they have failed to attract applicants to take up some of the key positions.  According to Echat, some of the positions that didn’t attract applicants include the Principal Human Resource Officer and Secretary District Service Commission, Assistant Engineering Officer, District Natural Resource Officer, and the District Commercial Officer.

Echat now says the positions were initially re-advertised after the district failed to attract applicants. He says that they are considering a head-hunt for potential candidates to fill the positions.

//Cue in: "we failed to.....

Cue out: ....to apply"//

Echat attributes this to perceptions by some applicants that Lamwo district is a hard-to-reach area and the fact that those positions are in high demand where those with vast experience prefer lucrative opportunities elsewhere.

The acting Secretary to the District Service Commission Roselyn Atim however says some of the affected vacancies attracted applicants although most candidates failed to meet the required qualifications to serve in the vacant positions.

Atim however says that they will make a recommendation to the district executive committee to implore the public service commission to approve fresh advertisements for the affected positions before June this year.  

The Lamwo LCV Chairperson Sisto Oyet Ocen says that the lack of critical human resource has been hampering service delivery. According to Ocen the staffing level in Lamwo district currently stands at 63.8 percent with most critical positions being held on acting positions.

//Cue in: "atye ka kuru....

Cue out: ....nongo ne tek"//

Ocen however says the district still has a wage bill for the affected positions coupled with the June deadline issued to fill all vacant positions. He says that they are optimistic that the impending re-advertisement will secure applicants for the vacant positions.