The Directorate of citizenship and Immigration Control under the Ministry of Internal Affairs has suspended giving out lunch in office to employees amid economic hardships faced by government.
In a 13 November, 2020 notice, the Directorate head told all commissioners that they decided to suspended lunch in office due to the current economic hardship and the underfunding of the directorate’s office.
“Following the economic hardships and underfunding of our budget and increased unpaid bills to service providers, this is to suspend serving of lunch to departments,” the Directorate Head said.
“This is a temporary measure to be adjusted as and when funds are made available. This does not however apply to the detention centre. Your cooperation is required.
The development comes hot on the heels of government’s suspension of payment of all allowances for its workers due to poor cash flow.
In last week’s memo sent to the Permanent Secretary (PS), Secretary to Treasury (ST), the Ministry of Finance said the payments for staff of State House, Ministry of Defence and other priority agencies and statutory obligations would not be affected.
“Reference is made to a meeting in your office (PS/ST, Accountant General and Director Budget) regarding cash flow for November-December 2020. It was agreed that given the cash position, only payment for the following should be made: State House, Ministry of Defence; wages, salaries, pension and gratuity; statutory obligations and Electoral Commission. All other payments should be deferred until further advice from the PS/ST,” reads the memo issued by the Accountant General, Lawrence Semakula.
The suspended payments include subsistence, lunch, mileage, transport and overtime allowances.
These allowances constitute nearly 80 per cent of civil servants’ upkeep as their payroll salaries are largely inadequate.
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