By Juliet Kimara
The newly appointed Gulu district Vice Chairman was today sworn in before the Chief Administrative Officer Dorothy Ajwang.
At the swearing in Oola Simon Peter said that he is ready to take over office from Douglas Peter Okello who quit the position to run on the independent ticket as LCV chairman for the newly created Omoro district.
Oola said he is aware that he is taking over office at a time when the Gulu is understaffed.
“The district currently has staffing gaps created by transfer of our officials to the new Omoro district. This has to be handled by the district service commission to tap from a pool of qualified Ugandans who deserve the job placements” Oola said.
Oola is the LC3 Chairman of Bardege Division in Gulu municipality and was previously deputy Speaker of the Gulu municipal council.
He appealed to the district service commission that is mandated to recruit district staff to speed up the process of filling up the vacant positions.
Among the positions that are currently having acting officers are; District Health Officer, District Education Officer, Senior Management Officer and Assistant Chief Administrative Officer, among others.
The Local Government Amendment Act 2015 provides that, “The chief administrative officer may transfer or post any employee of a local government within the district including an employee in a town council or town board as applicable” whereas Vacancies in the Local government Service are filled at the request of Responsible officers of the Local Authorities/ ministry of Local Government.