The Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs (MoDVA) conducted a stakeholders’ strategic workshop on pensions payroll and backlog verification exercise at Silver Springs Hotel in Bugolobi.
The 12th January 2022 workshop was conducted under the theme: “The Elimination of the Military Pensions, Gratuity backlog and Pension Payroll Integrity.”
The objective of the stakeholders strategic workshop was to seek cooperation and intervention from all stakeholders to address the residual systematic bottlenecks and challenges pertaining the pensions payroll and backlog verification exercise such as; policing support to the exercise, investigation and prosecution of fraudsters, acquisition of letters of administration, activation, acquisition and maintenance of Bank Accounts , acquisition of National Identity cards, among others without which one cannot be paid.
As she presided over the workshop, the Minister of State for Defence in Charge of Veteran Affairs Hon Oleru Huda noted that payment of veterans and survivors of the deceased veterans is a strategic intervention that Government has undertaken to handle men and women in uniform who sacrificed all their lives to make Uganda what it is today. “It?s the mandate of government to ensure that their benefits are paid,” she emphasized.
Hon Huda noted that a technical team comprising of all strategic stakeholders / coordination committee is going to be formed to ensure the successful implementation of the exercise.
She also stated that flexibility will be accorded to all veterans and estate administrators to enable them get all the required verification documents in time and commended participants for their knowledgeable and vibrant participation. “We are one government working for one people, when we have this coordination and networking, work becomes easier which saves time and resources,” she observed.
The Minister of Public Service Hon Muruli Mukasa who led the participants in the discussion noted that this exercise requires a lot of publicity and flexibility so that no veteran is left behind. “It’s high time that the issues of the Veterans are put to rest,” he asserted.
The Under Secretary/Accounting Officer of MoDVA, Mrs. Edith Butuuro who represented the Permanent Secretary- MoDVA Mrs. Rosette Byengoma noted that the Directorate of Veteran Affairs was deliberately created by Government to ensure that the welfare of the forces in and out of service is prioritized, facilitated and enabled in every aspect.
She urged participants to end the bottlenecks encountered by veterans and survivors during the verification exercise.
The Director of Veteran Affairs Brig Gen (Rtd) Emmanuel Musinguzi noted that significant progress has been made since 2010 when MoDVA documented 154,000 veterans and survivors. Over 70,000 were paid by the Ministry of Public Service (MOPS) leaving a backlog of 68,629 by 2018. A MoDVA Tasks Force deployed since 2019 verified these records and were able to produce 25,033 complete files but a balance of 43,596 records remained unclaimed. Out of these complete files, 11,000 files were paid in the 2020-2021 Financial Year (FY) and 14, 000 are being paid this 2021-2022 FY.
The last countrywide payroll field verification and the update of records and files exercise is scheduled for 17th January 2022 to 4th February 2022 to enable military veterans and estate administrators to expeditiously update their records.
This exercise is to guarantee payroll integrity and facilitate clearance of the residual case backlog of military pensions and gratuities.
These records mainly belong to the following (3) categories of beneficiaries: 1. Backlog Category; Living veterans, Estates of Veterans deceased in retirement, Estates of officers and militants deceased while in active service, Ex-gratia-Living veteran of former national army, Ex-gratia-Estate of deceased veteran of former national army. 2. Payroll Category; Living veterans on payroll, Estate of veterans deceased in retirement on payroll, Estate of officers and militants deceased while in active service on payroll. 3. Records belonging to Estates of officers and militants deceased while in active service dropped from payroll in 2014.
The workshop was also attended by the Deputy Attorney General Jackson Kafuuzi, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Internal Affairs Lt Gen Joseph Musanyufu, UPDF Joint Chief of Staff Maj Gen Leopold Kyanda, Commander Reserve Forces Lt Gen Charles Otema, Commissioner Human Resource MoDVA Cox Anguzu, Executive Director of National Identification and Registration Authority ( NIRA) Ms. Rosemary Kisembo, Representatives from Local Governments, Bank of Uganda, Commercial Banks, ISO, Chiefs and Commissioners from MoDVA/UPDF, among others.
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