Challenges of recruitment and selection of public servants in Kayunga District Local Government

Abstract

In any organisation, the sole process of recruitment and selection of its labour force is to obtain at its minimum cost the quantity and quality of employees to satisfy the human resource needs of that organisation. However, despite all that consideration, the process of recruitment and selection often meets challenges as the Human Resource Managers try to define requirements, attract candidates and advertise for the most competent employees. The case of Kayunga District Local Government is not an exception. The study was conducted to establish the challenges of recruitment and selection of public servants in Kayunga District Local Government. The study particularly sought to establish and recommend the kind of relationship between political interference, finance resource base and the competence of District Service Commission and recruitment and selection of public savants. The study was carried out by cross-sectional survey; data was collected during the month of March 2008, using questionnaire interview responses and documentary source from 2002 – 2006. From 130, of which 110 public servants, 15 District Councillors and 5 were members of the District Service Commission who were selected through simple random sampling techniques. . The data was presented and analysed using qualitative approach which was then presented by use of tables and descriptive explanations. This study established that objective recruitment and selection of human resource was the only way to attract and retain competent public servants in Local Governments to avoid financial waste and labour turn over. The researcher, therefore recommended that Local Government should employ the best system as bases for recruitment and selection of its public servants and this involves comparing with other Local Governments in Uganda, strengthen the district finance by widen revenues and training District Service Commission to make them more competent in recruiting and selecting the district public servants. The researcher propagated for further research on challenges of recruitment and selection of public servants in Local Government in Uganda.