KAMPALA – A group of 43 cadet police officers who were recruited under the “science professionals” arrangement on the orders of President Museveni has dragged the government to court allegedly underpaying them.
In their lawsuit filed at the High Court civil division, the police Cadets state that they responded to an advert in one of the daily newspapers in which police was calling for youths with a bias in sciences to join the institution.
They contend that on the instructions of the President and on the advice of the police authority, they were on March 1, 2016 appointed under section 9(1)(c) of the police Act Cap 303 by the Ministry of Internal Affairs clearly specified and classified as “Science Professionals”.
They state that there were terms and conditions of service which among others included; a salary scale u4(science), salary Shs13,583,608 per annum effective date of appointment of March 1, 2016 and probationary period 6 months.
According to the court documents the group states that they successfully underwent training at the training school in Kabalye -Masindi district and were formally employed by the Uganda police as science professionals at the rank of Assistant Supridendants of police (ASPs) in March 2016.
“For the past two and half years we have been serving in the Uganda Police Force (March 1, 2016 –June 30, 2018) and none of us has ever missed his/her salary as per the terms and conditions stipulated in their letters of appointment, “reads in part the court documents.
The group contends that according to their employment contracts and category of science professionals, the 2018-2019 national budget enhanced their salaries from the Usual Shs220, 000 in a bid for supporting government’s decision of prioritising sciences.
The group states that to their surprise and dismay the agreed terms and conditions of service have of recent been violated by the Uganda police force by paying them a far less salary than the one stipulated in their letters of appointment yet the terms of appointment have never been changed.
They aver that since November last year and without any lawful excuse or explanation, the ministry of finance has not paid their enhanced salaries which has now accrued to the sum of over Shs216 million.
They argue that this has occasioned them unrest since some of them had already acquired bank loans basing on the new salary structures released.
Through their lawyers of Lukwago and Company Advocates, the group is demanding for a 30%interest on the accumulated salary arrears from November until date of full payment.
