The High Court in Kampala has ruled in favor of seven police officers who challenged the Attorney General’s decision to disregard a 2010 presidential directive to increase their salaries.
Justice Musa Ssekaana ordered an immediate payment of all salary arrears, terming the Attorney General’s conduct as an attempt to undermine the presidency.
“The actions or conduct of the respondent is in total violation of the right to legitimate expectation of the applicants who had received an enhanced salary in accordance with the Presidential Directive,” the judge ruled.
“The decision of the Minister of Public Service to revise/revert the salary of the applicants was in breach of the principle of legitimate expectation and thus illegal,” he added.
The officers, led by Christine Nandingi, argued that sometime in 2008, the Government of Uganda made a deliberate policy to enhance salary of lawyers working with government as a measure to control their exit from government to private practice and also to attract Professionals to government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
That in the said enhancement, legal officers working with the Uganda Police Force were left out and their salaries were unfairly reduced while their counterparts in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Attorney General’s Chambers received enhancements.
Other officers are; Fred Paul Mirondo, Katrine Kusemererwa, Kagoda Stephen Ibanda, Victoria Rosemary Kirunda, Shunu Jimmy Chepkurui and Stella Rwambuka Ninsiima.
Justice Ssekaana held that Attorney General’s action was taken unfairly and without giving the officers any hearing and were thus treated unfairly contrary and in breach of Article 42 of the Constitution.
The court agreed, declaring the decision to downgrade their salaries as illegal.
The judge also ordered the Attorney General’s office to pay costs for the application. The ruling follows a successful legal battle by the officers, who sought to have their salaries matched with other government lawyers. The enhancement aims to recognize the critical role of police legal officers in working with the DPP and Attorney General’s offices.
