Director of Communication and Public Affairs Chris Obore is in fresh woes after receiving a letter on Wednesday from the Clerk of Parliament Jane Kibirige, directing him to take his accumulated leave with immediate effect.
Obore was also instructed to handover office to Waiswa Henry, Deputy Clerk Corporate Affairs. Obore defied Kibiriges’s orders on Wednesday and continued going to his office until Friday when he found the locks to the doors of his office by officers attached to the office of the Sergeant-at- Arms.
According to sources in Parliament, Obore has accumulated leave of up to 140 days and it is on this basis that Kibirirge decided to write to him to go on forced leave.
In his defense through his lawyers Kampala Associated Advocates, Obore challenged the letter saying that Public Service Standing Orders provide that leave cannot be accumulated from one calendar year to another unless the public officer’s request to carry forward the leave was approved by December 15.
According to him, this did not happen and therefore, it is illegal to send him on accumulated leave that he did not apply for by December 15, 2018.
Kibirige’s letter copied to the Speaker, Rebecca Kadaga, Deputy Speaker, Jacob Oulanyah, Deputy Clerk Corporate Affairs, Henry Waiswa, and the Directors for Human Resource and Finance also said that Obore should stay out of office even after the 140 days have elapsed until called back by Parliament.
This is not the first time Obore has had his job lying in balance. In March this year, Obore was served with a notice from Jane Kibirge that the Inspector General of Government (IGG) had investigated the circumstances under which he was recruited and found illegalities that rendered his appointment on August 19, 2015 null and void.
Obore through his lawyers was able to secure a court injunction to prevent the Parliamentary Commission from implementing the Clerk’s decision to terminate his employment.