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Why former MPs want one-term legislators to qualify for pensions
The executive of the Association of Parliamentary Alumni of Uganda (PAU), an umbrella body for former legislators from the first to the eleventh Parliament, made the appeal during a press conference at Parliament on July 17, 2026.
Why former MPs want one-term legislators to qualify for pensions
By: Dedan Kimathi, Journalist @New Vision
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Former lawmakers have called for amendments to the Parliamentary Pension Act, which governs the contributory retirement benefits scheme for Members of Parliament (MPs) and Parliamentary Commission staff.
The executive of the Association of Parliamentary Alumni of Uganda (PAU), an umbrella body for former legislators from the first to the eleventh Parliament, made the appeal during a press conference at Parliament on July 17, 2026.
Those present included the body’s newly elected chairperson and former Mwenge South MP Dora Kanabahita Byamukama, Capt. Emilly Otekat, John Amos Okot, and Florence Kintu.
Byamukama argued that the current law disadvantages MPs who serve only one term or return to Parliament after taking a break.
The law
Section 15 of the Parliamentary Pension (Amendment) Act, 2023 provides that former MPs are eligible for a pension only upon attaining the age of 45 and after serving continuously as a member for 10 years or more. According to sources, this money is generated from the Sh5 million monthly contribution deducted from each MP.
“The fact that if you serve one term, you must do whatever it takes to serve another term to get pension actually makes elections very commercialised and violent because someone is seeing the competitor or opponent as that person who is going to step in their way of getting pension for a lifetime,” Byamukama contended.
“Right now, this pension is at about sh4 million per month. This sh4m can make a difference in a person’s life. For example, if you have to contribute to a health insurance scheme, all you need is sh500,000. If, for example, you want to get a small bank loan, the fact that you are assured you’re going to get Sh4m, the bank can easily give you this loan,” she explained.
Justification
Former Agago North MP John Amos Okot wants the anomaly corrected henceforth to avoid the law being challenged as discriminatory.
“For example, I served two terms but not consecutively. In the ninth Parliament, I served for five years. Again, after a break in between, I came and served for another five years,” said Okot.
“The fact that if you serve one term, you must do whatever it takes to serve another term to get pension actually makes elections very commercialised and violent because someone is seeing the competitor or opponent as that person who is going to step in their way of getting pension for a lifetime,” Byamukama contended.
“Right now, this pension is at about sh4 million per month. This sh4m can make a difference in a person’s life. For example, if you have to contribute to a health insurance scheme, all you need is sh500,000. If, for example, you want to get a small bank loan, the fact that you are assured you’re going to get Sh4m, the bank can easily give you this loan,” she explained.
Justification
Former Agago North MP John Amos Okot wants the anomaly corrected henceforth to avoid the law being challenged as discriminatory.
“For example, I served two terms but not consecutively. In the ninth Parliament, I served for five years. Again, after a break in between, I came and served for another five years,” said Okot.
Byamukama, who chaired the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee when the Parliamentary Pensions Act was enacted in 2007, emphasised that one-term MPs, like other professionals and leaders who have served the country, also deserve to receive their pension benefits.
“We have soldiers. When you retire, even if you have served one year at the level of a General, you still go away with your medals and your honours. You don’t have to serve for a lengthy time for you to be able to earn your honours and a pension. In a way, a pension is a right. School teachers are getting a pension,” she insisted.
Public backlash
The development comes barely a week after PAU faced public backlash following remarks by one of its members, Gerald Menya, during the body’s Annual General Assembly (AGM) last week, in which he asked for a retirement package.
The former MP, who represented Bugabula North in the eighth Parliament and concurrently served as chairperson of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, pointed out that while they enacted the Emoluments and Benefits of the President, Vice President and Prime Minister Act, 2010, former MPs in his category were left exposed.
“The law provides that the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Deputies, Speaker and Deputy Speaker get a house, a vehicle of 5000 cc and replacement of furniture every three years and an allowance, security. We are not asking for that, ladies and gentlemen. We are only saying, is it possible for us to be included? We can also get an allowance of maybe sh10 million or sh15 million only per month,” Menya proposed.
However, the body has since distanced itself from reports suggesting that his remarks represented its official position, clarifying that those were his views as an individual member.
“We have soldiers. When you retire, even if you have served one year at the level of a General, you still go away with your medals and your honours. You don’t have to serve for a lengthy time for you to be able to earn your honours and a pension. In a way, a pension is a right. School teachers are getting a pension,” she insisted.
Public backlash
The development comes barely a week after PAU faced public backlash following remarks by one of its members, Gerald Menya, during the body’s Annual General Assembly (AGM) last week, in which he asked for a retirement package.
The former MP, who represented Bugabula North in the eighth Parliament and concurrently served as chairperson of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, pointed out that while they enacted the Emoluments and Benefits of the President, Vice President and Prime Minister Act, 2010, former MPs in his category were left exposed.
“The law provides that the President, Vice President, Prime Minister, Deputies, Speaker and Deputy Speaker get a house, a vehicle of 5000 cc and replacement of furniture every three years and an allowance, security. We are not asking for that, ladies and gentlemen. We are only saying, is it possible for us to be included? We can also get an allowance of maybe sh10 million or sh15 million only per month,” Menya proposed.
However, the body has since distanced itself from reports suggesting that his remarks represented its official position, clarifying that those were his views as an individual member.