Under secretary

Snopsis
Article 120 of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, creates the office of Director of Public Prosecutions. The mission of the Directorate is "To handle and prosecute criminal cases to reduce crime in the country". The activities of the Directorate are thus based on the mission. In order to execute this mission and to function efficiently and effectively, the directorate has been divided into two divisions, namely:- Prosecution and Management and Support Services (administration).

Role of Administration
In any organisation administration exists to manage the day-to-day operations, provide support services and to handle personnel matters, among others. The division of management and support services, headed by a Deputy Director, was created to play that role and for better organisation it is divided into the following departments:

1. Finance and Administration
2. Records, Information Services and Systems Administration.
3. Field Services and International Affairs.

The division, through the afore-mentioned departments carries out the following strategic functions:-

• Day to day management and operation of the Directorate.
• Management of terms and conditions of service as defined by Ministry of Public Service.
• Provision of welfare to staff
• Management of events and functions organised by the Directorate.
• Management of public assets, such as land and property, vehicles, furniture etc
• Management of records
• Management of information and library services
• Management of IT systems.

Achievements
The efficiency and effectiveness of any department and institution is gauged by what it can achieve with the resources at its disposal. In the Directorate the administration has definitely played a pivotal role in institution building and in its day to day operations resulting in greater achievement of objectives within the short period of its existence.

The institution building process would have been easy had it not been for the formidable and overriding challenge of limited resources. Article 120(6) of the 1995 constitution paved the way for the creation of a fully fledged Directorate as an independent institution, which the post constitutional restructuring process followed, thus creating a Directorate of Public Prosecutions, with a separate vote and accountable directly to the Treasury for its financial matters. It also created separate personnel from that of the mother Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs.

During the restructuring exercise, the administration played a key role of not only coordinating contributions and suggestions and inputs from the various stakeholders, but also of making its own contributions and guiding the exercise. What came out formed a landmark and a strong foundation towards the development and functioning of a fully fledged Directorate.

The administration has continued to build on that good start. The current institutional status stands as follows;

• A well organised library at the HQs, and have distributed basic legal literature in all our up-country stations.
• A well managed PROCAM (prosecution Case Management) system which is able to give a fairly accurate information on the court case management in the Directorate and its up country stations.
• Our payroll is well managed and able to control the wage bill, enabling us to pay salary promptly, (as soon as funds are released by the Treasury).
• Our submissions to the PSC are now prompt: vacancies are identified and declared timely and submission for promotions are done promptly - we don't have pending cases.
• We have made commendable strides in the area of IT acquisition and utilisation.

Detailed achievements in this area are dealt with elsewhere in this publication.

Opportunities
Many opportunities exist which if properly tapped, would lead the Directorate in achieving its coveted vision of creating a "crime free society".

• Availability of a supportive donor community/ development partners, whose interventions have led to the creation of the progressive Justice Law and Order Sector, (JLOS). The creation of JLOS has led to better planning, better coordination of prosecution activities, and improved funding of the sector institutions.
• Over-whelming support by the legislature, and especially the legal and parliamentary affairs committee. The prevailing wind of change in management of public affairs, emphasising the "Good Governance" concept thus leading to the awakening of interest of the public in Justice for all. The interest generated can only be satisfied by sustained improvement in the performance of the Directorate.
• There are ample opportunities for further training for our staff so as to equip them with the necessary skills and capacity to do the work.

Challenges
Inspite of the commendable progress made, the Directorate still faces many challenges, which, if overcome would catalyse its institution building process, and enhance its performance. These challenges are :-

1. Inadequate budgetary resources, making it difficult to:-
   
   
   • Motivate staff appropriately
   • Facilitate staff in terms of allowances, vehicles to court etc.
   • Pay staff a living wage
   • Inability to put up own office accommodation both at the headquarters and up-country stations, to match other sister institutions in JLOS



2. Adverse terms and conditions of service in the Public Service in general, resulting in high rate of attrition of staff, who leave to look for greener pastures.



3. Frequent high rate of exodus, of especially well trained, capable and experienced staff who are difficult to replace.



4. Lack of own office accommodation makes the institution spend almost 50% of its annual budget allocation on rent, thus exacerbating the financial crisis of the Directorate.



5. Lack of promotional outlet for some cadres is frustrating and a major cause of attrition. The cadres who are worst affected are the State Prosecutors, Data Entry Clerks and Office Attendants.

Way Forward
The way forward is to exploit the abundant existing opportunities and to work harder to realise our vision of "Crime free society" so that our country prospers. In the short run the Directorate is set to address the following, in order to improve its performance:

1. Use the support of the donors, the legislature, and all the stake holders to its advantage. This is one way of increasing funding for the institution.



2. Maintain the struggle to improve the terms and conditions of service of staff. Our target would be to turn the Directorate into a fully-fledged statutory body, with its own commission, funded from the provident fund.



3. Inform the public of the good work we are doing, aimed at making Uganda a crime free country, and providing justice for all Ugandans. This can best be done through sustained advocacy by the top management, individuals and through publicity of materials such as newsletters, magazines and using print and electric media.



4. Work towards building own office accommodation both at the headquarters and up country which will save on the colossal sum we are currently spending on rent and thus spare the resources for other priorities.

Conclusion
We have just discussed the role of administration in the management of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions. We strongly believe that it plays a significant part in the operations and management of the institution. We wish the strongly appeal to the Top Management to continue supporting us and giving us encouragement so as to rekindle the potentials in us. We equally wish to appeal to higher authorities to include DPP as a priority institution deserving better funding. On our part we pledge loyalty and dedication to our duty, as Boxer in the "Animal Farm" said "We shall continue to work harder". Aluta Continua.