MPs caution gov't over EC staff salaries

Apr 21, 2015

Members of Parliament on the legal and parliamentary committee have promised to halt the budgeting process if government does not increase salaries for the Electoral Commission staff.

By Moses  Mulondo

Members of Parliament on the legal and parliamentary committee have promised to halt the budgeting process if government does not increase salaries for the Electoral Commission staff.


The MPs made the warning Tuesday while interfacing with the EC commissioners and technical staff regarding their 2015/2016 budget.

Pushing for the salary increment, the EC chairman Dr. Badru Kiggundu said since 1999 their salaries have not been increased yet the cost of living has drastically gone up over the years.

The EC secretary Sam Rwakoojo said, “The government maintained the allocation of for wage at sh8.2b although the commission had projected to spend sh16.6b. Currently, there is a high rate of staff turnover in both top and lower management because of poor remuneration.”

The committee chairman Stephen Tashobya said, “As a committee, we have written over and over again recommending for salary enhancement for EC staff but government has failed to comply. They should give us an explanation. We can stand over the budget until it is implemented.”

PWDs’ MP for the central region Alex Ndezi said, “We have talked about the need to increase salaries for EC staff again and again that it has now become a song in this committee. A driver in KCCA earns more than the secretary of EC. There is a strong linkage between integrity and the remuneration of staff. We should not pass the budget until the salaries are increased.”

Tashobya said it is because of limited funding that the commission is currently paying officials helping them in updating the voters’ register only sh120, 000.

“We have information that some officials who had been recruited to do the work refused to work protesting the meager payment,” Tashobya elaborated.

Out of the sh272b the commission needs to conduct the 2016 general elections, governments intends to avail sh202b, leaving a shortfall of sh70b.

The MPs were shocked to learn that the shortfall of sh70b leaves many core activities for the 2016 general elections unfunded including sh23.8b for paying polling officials, sh3.7b for conducting regional parliamentary youth elections, sh1.4 for tallying of results, sh13b for printing ballot papers for youth committees, sh1b for conducting PWDs parliamentary elections, and among others, sh13b for polling officials for elections of PWDs, Youth and older persons councils and committees.

The EC commissioners were also faulted over the suspicious itemization of their budget which has sh5b for fuel, sh5.3b for inland travel, sh15b for hire of transport/purchase of vehicles and sh4.2b for maintenance of vehicles.

“You cannot have separate budgets for fuel, inland travel and hire of transport yet they serve the same purpose. Something is wrong regarding this kind of budgeting,” said Busiro East MP Medard Lubega Ssegona.
 

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