Government Officials’ Allowances: Finance Ministry Explains after Public Uproar on Increment

The Ministry of Finance has defended the implementation of revised allowances for government officials following public criticism over the timing of the increases, with Deputy Secretary to the Treasury Patrick Ocailap insisting that the changes were not introduced midway through the financial year.

Ocailap said the controversy stemmed from a clarification issued to government institutions whose programmes had completed negotiations after the preparation of the 2026-2027 national budget. The communication, he said, was intended to bring those programmes into line with an earlier directive on public service allowances.

The explanation came amid public concern over the cost of government operations as Ugandans contend with rising fuel prices, pressure on household incomes and the depreciation of the shilling.

In a statement, Ocailap traced the revised rates to a circular issued in February 2026 by Catherine Bitarakwate Musiingwire, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service.

The February communication was designed to help government institutions prepare their budgets for the current financial year, he said.

Bitarakwate Musiingwire, he said, had issued the circular “to guide accounting officers on the kind of allowances they should be able to budget for for this financial year.”

Ocailap said some government programmes had not completed negotiations in time to be incorporated into the initial budgeting process, prompting the subsequent clarification from the Treasury.

“However, this current circular which I issued is in respect to those programs where negotiations were still continuing and they went past the time limit of the preparation for the budget for this financial year by the various agencies,” he said.

He added that the government had recommended bringing the affected programmes into conformity with the existing public service allowance structure.

“It was recommended that we also notify them about the need for us to align all program allowances with the public service allowances.”

The Deputy Secretary to the Treasury rejected the suggestion that the government had introduced an entirely new allowance regime in the middle of the financial year.

“It is not a new circular in the middle of the financial year. We couldn’t do that. It cannot happen. That we issue a new circular, of new allowances in the middle of the financial year. So, absolutely, it is an old circular done by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Public Service, but giving clarification to those programmes which were concluded after the financial year started,” Ocailap said.

He said the affected programmes had been expected to adopt the revised rates but required formal guidance to ensure they followed the instructions already issued to ministries, departments and agencies.

“We had anticipated that indeed they were coming on board but they needed to be aligned to the Public Service Circular Instruction which was issued in February for all MDAs in preparation for this year’s budget.”

The Finance Ministry said the allowances were already in effect under the earlier public service directive. The later communication was intended to ensure that officials implementing newly concluded programmes applied the same framework.

Among the programmes affected are the Public Investment and Asset Management for Growth and Resilience Operation, commonly known as PIM Plus; the Resource Enhancement and Accountability Programme, or REAP; the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Programme, known as UgIFT; and Funds Coordination for Global Fund Grants.

Negotiations for the programmes had extended beyond the period initially set aside for preparing the 2026-2027 budget, according to the ministry.

The Treasury’s clarification was therefore meant to bring their allowance arrangements into line with the existing public service structure while ensuring that spending remained within approved financial allocations.

“This circular also is aligned to the budget of those programs… The application of that circular therefore means that they must be within the approved resources for those programs in the various agencies and quote a number of these programs cut across a number of agencies,”

Ocailap said, adding that compliance with the revised rates would not exempt government institutions from the financial controls governing their expenditure.

“Besides alignment to the public service structure, besides being in the budget, they are equally subjected to the available cash limits which are issued every quarter. In this case, I had to clarify for those entities who are implementing those programmes which were negotiated past the financial year,” he noted.

The explanation places the implementation of the revised allowances within three constraints: the public service allowance structure, approved programme budgets and quarterly cash limits issued to government institutions.

The clarification followed a circular dated September 21, 2026, issued by Ocailap on revised duty facilitation allowance rates. The document instructed accounting officers to adjust planned activities to reflect the resources available for the financial year.

“You should, therefore, rationalise all your planned activities and fit them within the available resources in FY2026/27. Secondly, you are advised to plan and budget with this new information for FY2027/28 onwards,” it read in part.

The instruction also directed government institutions to incorporate the revised information into their forward budgets from the 2027-2028 financial year.

While the Finance Ministry has maintained that the communication did not introduce a new allowance policy, the public reaction has centred on the timing of the increases and their implications for government expenditure during a period of economic pressure.

Ocailap’s clarification sought to distinguish between the original public service directive and the subsequent administrative communication to programmes whose negotiations had taken longer than expected.

The ministry’s position is that the affected institutions are implementing an existing allowance framework, rather than receiving a separate set of benefits introduced after the financial year had begun.

You can see the new allowances for top government officials every day or night , as well as the full salary structure Here and There.