UPF has spoken out on reports of delayed or missing salaries of Ugandan police officers. The explanation by Uganda Police Force stems (UPF) from complaints from officers that they had not received their salaries for months while others claimed that their salaries had taken more days than they are usually deposited on their bank accounts at the end of the month.
The law and order agency says that cases of missing and delayed salaries of Ugandan police officers are just “isolated cases of salary delays affecting individual officers due to circumstances that vary from individual officer to another.”
Uganda Police Force spokesperson Kituuma Rusoke says there could have been a mismatch between nominal roll and payroll data whereby “some officers provide inconsistent information between their unit service records and payroll details, causing payment system rejections.”
The other issue, continued Rusoke, could be failure to meet validation requirements. “In 2023, the Auditor General conducted a validation exercise for government employees. Some officers failed to meet validation requirements due to missing national identification cards, discrepancies in names or dates of birth, or inability to produce appointment letters. These officers were categorized as partially validated,” he explained.
Some officers’ salaries could also be missing due to bank identity mismatches, a case where salaries sometimes bounce due to inconsistencies between identity details submitted to banks and those provided to the payroll system, according to the police spokesperson.
Also, those complaining of missing salaries could be deserters who have since been deleted from the payroll and have not yet undergone a disciplinary process to be reinstated.
“Before removing officers from the payroll, unit commanders flag concerns to the Directorate of Human Resource Administration (HRA), which reviews the justification and approves the deletions,” explained Rusoke.
“Similarly, reinstating an officer on the payroll follows a structured procedure. The verification process begins at the officer’s unit and progresses to the Directorate of Human Resource Administration, where their concerns are assessed. If an officer is deemed ineligible for payment, the Directorate authorizes their removal from the payroll.”
Yet other officers could have erroneously been retired. “Some officers were mistakenly retired following validation audits due to discrepancies in entry records and age data held by NIRA,” noted Rusoke.
Missing salaries could also be because of data migration challenges, with Rusoke admitting that the transition to the Human Capital Management System involved reorganizing data records, “which occasionally led to payment delays caused by incorrect entries.”
There is also the curious case of police lawyers whose salaries were increased to the level of their counterparts in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) but were later cut months later.
The High Court in Kampala has ordered a salary enhancement for police legal officers to match that of other government lawyers working in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) and the Attorney General’s office. The landmark judgment, delivered on Friday by the head of the Civil Division, Justice Musa Ssekaana, followed a successful petition filed by seven police officers.
They sued the Attorney General, challenging the Ministry of Public Service’s decision to revise their salary structure downwards. The petitioners are Christine Nanding, Fred Paul Mirondo, Katrine Kusemererwa, Stephen Kagoda Ibanda, Rosemary Victoria Kirunda, Jimmy Shunu Chepkurui, and Stella Ninsiima Rwambuka.
The issue began in 2008 when the Government of Uganda implemented a policy to enhance the salaries of government lawyers. However, legal officers within the Uganda Police Force were excluded, leading the aggrieved officers to file a civil suit (High Court Civil Suit No. 160 of 2008) against the government, citing discrimination.
In 2010, the President of Uganda directed the enhancement of salaries for police legal officers to align with their counterparts in the ODPP. As a result, enhanced payments were made to all Uganda Police Force legal officers from the rank of AIGP to ASP, leading to the withdrawal of the civil suit.
From 2010 to 2022, the enhanced wages for these lawyers were incorporated into the Uganda Police Force wage bill. Subsequent appointments of legal officers were made with salaries matching those of their counterparts in the ODPP. However, in the 2021/2022 financial year, the salary structure provided enhanced salaries only for legal professionals under the ODPP, excluding those under the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs. This exclusion continued in the 2022/2023 financial year.
On October 17, 2022, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service informed the Inspector General of Police of an alleged overpayment of legal officers in the Uganda Police Force, leading to a downward revision of their salary structure. In March 2023, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs rescinded the officers’ earlier appointments made on July 6, 2022.
In response, the officers petitioned the High Court in 2024, arguing that this decision was a violation of the Presidential directive, unconstitutional, and an attempt to undermine the powers of the Fountain of Honour. They also claimed that the decision was made without following proper procedures and without giving them a fair hearing.
The officers further stated that they had secured loans based on the salary structure stipulated in their appointment letters of July 6, 2022. They argued that the mandates of the Uganda Police Force and the ODPP are interrelated under the Justice Law and Order Sector, justifying the enhanced salaries in the “wise counsel of the President to ensure fairness, equity, non-discrimination, attraction, and retention of legal personnel in the institution.”
Their lawyers, led by John Isabirye, argued that all available administrative remedies had been exhausted, leaving the court as the only recourse to quash the decision and order the immediate enhancement of their salaries.
The Attorney General contended that from the 2021/2022 financial year, legal professionals’ salaries were determined by the specific nature of their duties and responsibilities. Different salary scales applied to various roles within the Judiciary, Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, ODPP, Judicial Service Commission, and other external bodies, as outlined in directives on salary enhancements issued by the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development.He further argued that the payroll officer in the Uganda Police Force had unlawfully “manually reviewed the salary scale codes against the policy and controls fitted within the payroll system,” and thus asked the court to dismiss the application.
In his ruling, Justice Ssekaana sided with the officers, declaring the downward revision of their salary structure null and void. “The actions or conduct of the respondent (Attorney General) is in total violation of the right to legitimate expectation of the applicants who had received an enhanced salary in accordance with the Presidential Directive,” said Ssekaana.
He issued an order quashing the decision and an Order of Mandamus directing the Ministry to pay the officers all arrears resulting from the non-payment or underpayment of their enhanced salaries.
The court further awarded costs to the applicants and issued a permanent injunction restraining the Ministry from any future attempts to revise the officers’ enhanced salary structure.
“A declaratory Order that the decision to revise the salary payments of the Uganda Police Force Legal Professionals downwards below the enhanced salary scale was a violation of the Presidential Directive and an attempt to undermine the Fountain of Honour,” added Ssekaana. — Report: URN, August, 2024.
The Attorney General says he has appealed the decision of the High Court in the Court of Appeal.
LATEST UPDATE ON THIS STORY: Read more and watch video on cutting of police officers’ salaries and about a plan to reportedly cut salaries of science teachers after government failed to increase salaries of arts teachers Here.
It should be remembered that the salaries of police officers were recently increased – just like for their prisons counterparts, but they remain low at lower ranks and their conditions are a matter of concern. See new police and prisons salary structure Here, There and Over There.
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