KAMPALA – Legislators on the Committee of Gender have admitted that their hands are tied regarding the salary increment the Ministry of Public Service had promised public servants arguing the budget provision is too high to be catered for in the 2019/2020 national budget.
While interfacing with Godfrey Onzima Chairperson Committee of Public Service (Local Governments) he told the Budget Committee that the publicized salary increment to public servants requires Shs279b yet this hasn’t been reflected in the sector’s policy statement.
Mr. Onzima said that Government must honour its original commitments to implement the enhanced Salary Structure as Agreed over a period of five years to avoid unnecessary disruption of service delivery.
He said: “The Public Service Committee recommends that governments consider the 30% enhancement of the approved five-year pay target which requires additional Shs279.2b inclusive of the requirement under the Administration of Justice Bill because the majority of the beneficiaries have hit the 25% enhancements mark.”
Although the MPs on the Budget Committee agreed to have a salary of public servants increased, they argued that funds required are huge to be catered for within the budget.
It should be recalled that during the consideration of the ministerial policy statement by the Ministry of Public Servant, Government tabled a list of proposed 30% salary enhancement of all public servants for the financial year 2019/20.
The list given out to the committee by the Minister of State for Public Service David Karubanga showed that salary of primary head teachers was to be increased from Shs814,000 to Shs1M, graduate science head teacher for secondary school to earn Shs1.6M while their arts head teacher are to earn Shs1.6M.
According to the breakdown, in the Judiciary, the Chief Justice will receive Shs20M, his deputy Shs19M while justices of the Supreme Court are set to receive Shs18.2M, Principal Judge Shs17.9M, while the 12 court of Appeal Justices will walk away with Shs17.6M.
In the education sector, Head Teachers are going to have their salary increased from Shs1,690,781 to Shs3M with further projections indicating that these will walk away with shs10M monthly in the near future.
Deputy Headteachers are going to be paid Shs2.220M from the Shs1.550M they were earning teaching secondary schools. Their counterparts in primary schools will also smile to the banks with head teachers set to earn Shs1.050M from Shs814,011 while the deputy head teachers aren’t going to receive any increment.
The Accountant General who has been earning Shs3.419M is going to earn Shs5.4M and the same increment will be witnessed by Deputy Secretary to Treasury who was unlucky not to witness any increment yet the Secretary to Treasury had his salary increased from Shs3M to Shs15M in 2016.
The Commissioners are set to receive Shs3.6M up from the Shs2.3M they have been receiving. The Police Force hasn’t been left out in the salary bonanza with the Sergeants set to earn Shs540,587 from the Shs440,587 they have been earning.
On the other hand, District chairperson to earn Shs2.8M from Shs2.3M and deputy is to get 2.1M from Shs1.1M, district speaker will bag Shs1M as municipal mayors will continue earning Shs1.1M and sub-county chairpersons to get Shs500.
