Why MPs want councillors’ pay increased

Lawmakers have asked the Ministry of Local Government to consider increasing the pay of councillors.

Members of Parliament on the Public Accounts Committee Central made the call on Tuesday (March 3) during an interaction with officials from the local government ministry led by permanent secretary Ben Kumumanya.

The engagement was anchored on Auditor General Edward Akol’s report on the ministry for the year ended December 2025.

The discussion began with Silas Aogon, Kumi Municipality MP, asking for an update on plans to enhance councillors’ pay.

“I am not sure whether councillors now receive salaries or a stipend. There has always been a demand by councillors that they should also be on the payroll. Leave alone this thing of ex gratia,” Aogon raised.

His remarks prompted other lawmakers to weigh in, notably Moses Kabuusu, Kyamuswa County MP, who drew on his experience as Kalangala district youth councillor between 2001 and 2006 before entering Parliament. He illustrated the challenges faced by lower-level administrative leaders.

“I remember what I was being remunerated as a councillor at district level, it was sh70,000, and that always happened every quarter, every three months. The reason was Kalangala local government did not have a wider source of local revenue, and the way local governments in that category survive is a nightmare,” Kabuusu alluded.

Before pressing ministry officials on what plans they have to support local governments that lack markets or adequate revenue streams, he added:

“I have a subcounty called Mazinga, they used to give them only lunch. Somebody prepares food as their sitting allowance for that subcounty in a quarter,” he illustrated.
Suzan Mugabi, Buvuma district woman MP, said that if people thought councillors were poorly treated, they should consider the plight of secretaries for women affairs at village level.

“The so called Nabakyala’s, these are women doing a tremendous job at the village level, and they are working together with the chairpersons at LC I. But these women have not been considered anywhere, and for them, they keep on complaining to the Chairperson LC I, they are the only ones who have been considered because they are being given sh10,000 per month,” Mugabi pointed out.

Kassanda North MP Patrick Guma Oshabe Nsamba argued that while councillors are expected to monitor technocrats at the district level, they lack the capacity to do so because of limited facilitation.

“There is no fund to train them, like you said; you have been relying on donor funds to do that. But that should have been a priority as a country to make sure that the people who are supposed to monitor the funds, we put at the district are empowered. If you choose not to give them a salary or money, politicians at the district become so vulnerable,” Nsamba argued.

“I am supposed to monitor a chief administrative officer (CAO), an engineer who runs a budget of say sh1 billion. But me who is supposed to monitor him, I am paid nothing. So, they only rely on allowances that come from the technical officers. You find a district chairperson has to pay allegiance, or bow down to a technical person because he is the one who has the purse,” he added.

He warned that such conditions could breed corruption, especially in districts with revenue potential such as gold mining.

“I was calculating, Kassanda district has about 35 councillors, even if you were giving them sh500,000 to begin with. That’s about sh210 million a financial year, is that too much a budget to ask of a district like Kassanda?” Nsamba wondered.

Responding, Kumumanya said discussions were ongoing regarding facilitation of local leaders.

“On chairpersons of women committees getting something, we can discuss with the Ministry of Gender and harmonise.”

“Why I am saying that, is that they are members of our executive committee. Every Nabakyala at village is a member of the executive; it is the same at the parish. But most importantly, at the parish, they are part of the PDC (parish development committees), so we are going to engage the Ministry of Gender so that they should be equating the way they are handling these ones,” he explained.

On councillors’ pay, Kumumanya said the matter had evolved over time and that discussions were ongoing on how to mobilise resources to improve their ex gratia and honoraria.

These, he said, about 20 years ago, were supposed to serve voluntarily, but found out that with a stipend their work would be difficult.

“They put that there should be a sitting allowance and a subsistence allowance if they travel beyond their allocation. Then now we graduated into ex gratia and honoraria. The only people who get salaries are the district executive committee, Mayors of municipalities and at that level, mayors of LCIII; those ones are getting a salary which is still small,” Kumumanya acknowledged.

“But resources being available, and if it is a policy approval, there will not be harm in expanding the regime of facilitating,” he concluded.

Uganda has 135 districts, 11 cities, 20 city divisions, 31 municipalities, 89 municipal divisions, 1,487 sub-counties, 589 town councils, 10,716 parishes and 71,202 villages.
During the same sitting, Kumumanya said preparations for the induction of elected local government officials were underway.

“Because we lost out on 2021-2026, we have already done a roadmap. As I talk now, we have mobilised our own resources, we are having a revision of training materials for induction in Masaka right now,” said Kumumanya.

“And we also have resources to conduct a training of trainers, so that when we get the Government money, we already have a pool of trainers who are picked from all professions,” he added.

His remarks followed concerns raised by Kabuusu regarding the capacity of councillors in three sub-regions.

“Madam chairperson, you will appreciate that all documents at Local Governments are in English and in Bunyoro, Buganda and Busoga here; many of our local councillors cannot even swear in,” Kabuusu pointed out.