Clinical Officer Ordered to Refund Over UGX 80 Million Received Irregularly

Kampala, Uganda — The Inspectorate of Government has ordered Mr. Habib Hussein, a former Clinical Officer at Bombo Health Centre III, to refund UGX 81,258,356 which he unlawfully received in salary after abandoning his government duties.

According to a statement released on Tuesday, investigations conducted by the Inspectorate’s Mukono Regional Office established that Hussein continued to earn a salary from Luwero District despite taking up full-time employment elsewhere.

During the investigations, Hussein reportedly admitted to the irregular payments and expressed readiness to refund the money.

“The money is to be deposited into the IG Assets Recovery Account held at the Bank of Uganda,” the Inspectorate said in its statement, adding that the case demonstrates the institution’s continued resolve to fight corruption and safeguard public resources.

Records show that Hussein was first appointed on probation by the Luwero District Service Commission in June 2006 as a Clinical Officer and later confirmed in service in November 2008.

He was initially deployed at Nyimbwa Health Centre IV before being transferred to Bombo Health Centre III.

However, the Inspectorate’s findings indicate that Hussein frequently abandoned his duties at the government facility.

In August 2010, he accepted a full-time position with AIDS Healthcare Foundation – Uganda Cares as a Clinical Officer based in Masaka.Despite securing the NGO job, Hussein reportedly failed to formally resign from his government position and continued receiving salary payments from Luwero District until January 2020, when he eventually submitted his resignation.

Investigators found that during this period, he focused on his NGO employment while neglecting his official responsibilities at the government health facility.

The Inspectorate said his conduct violated Section (F-e), Paragraph 1 of the Uganda Public Service Standing Orders (2010), which prohibits public servants from holding other full-time employment without proper authorization.

In total, Hussein is reported to have received over Shs81 million in government salary over the ten-year period while not actively serving in his official role.

The Inspectorate emphasized that recovering the funds is part of broader efforts to enforce accountability among public servants and deter misuse of taxpayer money.