Immigration boss wants govt to review staff salaries

IMMIGRATION|SALARIES|GOVERNMENT

KAMPALA - The Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control, Maj. Gen. Apollo Gowa, has urged the Government to review salaries of immigration officers.

Gowa said, currently, an immigration officer at the lower rank earns between sh270,000 and sh300,000 and those at the director level earn sh2m.

He made the remarks while presiding over the decoration of seven immigration officers at the internal affairs ministry office, in Kampala, yesterday.

Gowa said: "I had the opportunity to visit majority of the immigration officers living in hard-to-reach areas. Though they perform diligently, they live in uniports."

He said when he went to Ntoroko district, he saw one of the officers who was living in a house which was about to collapse. He also said in Tonya, Hoima district, immigration officers were living in houses submerged in water.

Addressing senior immigration officers, Prossy Babirye, the internal affairs human resource manager, appealed to government, through her directorate, to review employee salary structure.

"At the immigration office, what managers basically discuss about every day is improving welfare and restructuring," Babirye said.

She added that it is important to review the salary structure of immigration officers in order to improve on their standards of living.

Since many immigration officers have been holding positions for over 10 years without complaining, Babirye said there should be an effort to attract, retain competent and well-motivated workforce.

Speaking on behalf of other senior immigration officers, Spencer Birungi, the senior immigration officer in charge of the Mpondwe Cluster, said one cannot understand how you can carry a rank for 25 years without a significant change in your level of performance.

"We pledge commitment, vigilance and integrity to the organisation. Since we are senior immigration officers now, we will be hurt if we are promoted and no responsibility assigned."