Police bosses grilled over sh4b COVID-19 money
Jun 19, 2020
MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC) of Parliament on Friday grilled Police bosses over discriminatory payment of allowances to Police personnel implementing the presidential directives on COVID-19 in Uganda.
MPs on the public accounts committee (PAC) of Parliament on Friday grilled Police bosses over discriminatory payment of allowances to Police personnel implementing the presidential directives on COVID-19 in Uganda.
In April, Parliament approved sh37b as a supplementary budget for the Police, to help the force in implementing the health ministry and presidential directives to curb the spread of COVID-19.
Out of the sh37b, the force allocated sh4.5b towards allowances, special meals and drinks for its officers involved in handling COVID-19 related activities.
However, during a meeting with the Police leadership at Parliament on Friday, the MPs indicated that some officers involved in COVID-19 activities were receiving as little as sh5,000 in allowances, with many not being paid.
"Is it true you are giving these people only sh5,000? As Parliament, we passed money and there in, was money for paying allowances to security personnel.
We pass different roadblocks and the same people you find there during the day are the same people you find there at night, so it is like some of them sleep there," Nandala Mafabi (Budadiri West MP) and the committee chairperson, said.
The MPs said despite all Police officers offering COVID-19 related services, the force was selectively paying allowances to only a few officers, leaving the rest without pay.
James Waluswaka (Bunyole MP) said all Police officers have been key in implementing presidential directives such as the curfew time and should be paid.
"To our understanding, every Police officer in this country is involved in COVID-19 related activities because curfew is imposed everywhere, including Butaleja. Discriminatory payment of a few individuals is not good," he said.
Citing Parliament, where Police officers work all day to help in sanitisation and temperature checks on people accessing the facility, Waluswaka said such officers should be included among those to receive allowances.
LIMITED RESOURCES
In response, however, Aggrey Wunyi, the accounting officer Uganda Police Force, told the MPs that the force lacked enough funds to pay all the officers.
He said initially, the force had budgeted allowances for only 35,000 Police personnel deployed across the country.
"The Uganda Police Force has 42,000 personnel and we got a meagre budget of sh4.5b, which could not allow us to facilitate all the personnel," Wunyi said.
He said upon receiving the money, the Ministry of Health advised the force to pay the allowances according to categories such as high, middle and low-risk.
Wunyi said it was agreed that officers at the high risk of catching the virus would be paid sh80,000 per day, sh60,000 and sh50,000 to those less exposed.
He said because of the increased demand for allowances by officers, the force came up with what he described as a ‘safari arrangement' where officers are paid between sh11,000 and sh12,000, depending on the rank. "It is not true that we are paying our officers sh5,000," Wunyi said.
He explained that the force has been able to feed 35,000 officers deployed at different points such as borders, markets and checkpoints, among other centres.
He said they have also used part of the money to buy protective gear such as masks, sanitisers and gloves for the officers deployed in different parts of the country.
"This money has been handled in the most transparent way. Whenever there is any release, we communicate to the regional commanders. Those officers complaining are just indisciplined," Jack Bakasumba, the Police chief of joint staff, said.
He said the force had cleared allowances for over 30,000 Police personnel, noting that they were challenged by the limited funds.
PAC asked the force to raise a supplementary budget for more funds, on condition that they provide accountability for the sh37b allocated to them for COVID-19.
"All Police personnel that have worked should be paid, that is a must. It is incumbent on you to raise the payment if it is not enough for Parliament to ensure you get the money for those people. You must appropriate for them," Nandala said.
The officers had on Friday appeared before the committee to respond to the Auditor General's queries raised against the Police for the financial year ended June 30, 2019.
Margaret Birungi, an expectant mother, was excited when President Yoweri Museveni recently announced the lifting of the ban on public transport.
With just a few days left to visit the labour ward, Birungi saw it as a chance to travel back to her home village in Bugoba, Luuka district, where she hoped to give birth under the care of her mother.
She was, however, one of the travellers who got stranded in the New Taxi Park in Kampala on Thursday after failing to find a taxi. She travelled from Kyengera in Wakiso district with her three-and-a-half-old daughter after her boyfriend, with whom they had been cohabiting in a rented room, abandoned them.
Birungi says her boyfriend, Martin Wasswa, a chapatti maker at Kyengera trading centre, left home in April and has never returned.
"I have been living with my daughter with no help. Whenever I call him, he picks, but he does not say a word and I do not know where he lives," narrated Birungi, with tears rolling down her cheeks.
She was working in a salon as a hairdresser, but her boss stopped her when she became heavy.
She spent the night near the Police post in the park, but still did not have enough money to buy food.