The State Minister for Public Service, Grace Mary Mugasa has revealed that at least 262,675 government employees have not had their salaries enhanced for over seven years.
Speaking during the National Resistance Movement Manifesto Week 2023 on Wednesday at the Office of Prime Minister in Kampala, Minister Mugasa said the ministry is affected by the shortfall of funds to see that all civil servants get their salaries enhanced.
It must be recalled that as a way of fighting corruption, the ministry proposed to carry out a pay reform and continue with salary enhancements to remove injustices and address the compression ratio in salary scales.
In 2017, the cabinet approved the Public Service pay policy principles as well as a five year pay plan covering every person paid salaries or allowances from the consolidated fund or out of money appropriated by Parliament. The financial implications of the enhancement were determined at Shs 9,295.864bn over the five years period.
Its Implementation commenced in FY 2018/2019 and by FY 2022/2023, Shs. 2,035.575Bn had been committed to implementing the pay policy albeit the global effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The government adopted a phased approach/ strategy to implement the approved payment plans due to the significant financial implication the policy presents in the Medium-term.
The priority for the last five years focused on employee categories that are critical for achieving the goal of industrialization, value addition, economic recovery, provision of critical care as well as peace and security.
As of July 2022, 59,675 Public officers excluding the Uganda People’s Defence Forces accounting for 18.5 per cent have received enhancement by a minimum of 77 per cent of the approved long-term pay targets while 262,675 employees accounting for 72.5 per cent have remained unenhanced.
Senior Officers of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces and Generals as well as Teaching and Non-Teaching Staff of Public Universities, other legal professionals other than those in the Judiciary Service and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions and Deputy Permanent Secretaries and equivalent levels have been enhanced at 77 per cent of the approved pay targets over the five years period.
Other Public Officers who benefitted within the five years period are Post-Primary Teachers/ Instructors/ Tutors/Headteachers/Deputy Head Teachers/Principals and Deputy Principals, Local Government Political Leaders, Chairpersons of District Service Commissions, personnel in Police, Prisons and Uganda People’s Defense Forces in the ranks of Private to Sergeant and Staff of Public Universities.
As of July 2022, 59,675 Public officers excluding the Uganda People’s Defence Forces accounting for 18.5 per cent have received enhancement by a minimum of 77 per cent of the approved long-term pay targets while 262,675 employees accounting for 72.5 per cent have remained unenhanced.
According to the minister, the phased salary enhancement of all categories in the public service has been affected by funding shortfall and to settle this problem, there is a need to improve funding from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and also develop proposals to attract funding from Development Partners.
“On partial implementation of the revised salary enhancement across government, there is need to fast track enhancement of Salaries for government employees.”
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