By Hannah Marion Namukasa
The Ministry of Finance has released funds required to pay salary arrears for casual labourers employed by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), the Minister of State for Finance (General Duties), Hon. Henry Musasizi, has said.
Without giving figures, the Minister provided this assurance following concerns raised by the Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, during the plenary sitting chaired by Speaker Anita Among on Thursday, 28 March 2024.
Ssenyonyi raised the issue following another demonstration by labourers employed by KCCA over non-payment of their dues, despite a meeting between the Speaker and KCCA leadership early in March that agreed to make immediate payments.
“In the meeting, KCCA leadership committed to pay all the arrears by 06 March 2024. These casual labourers protested again at the KCCA offices yesterday because today is 28 March and this money has not been paid,” said Ssenyonyi, urging government to prioritize the payments and give feedback to Parliament.
The Speaker also expressed dismay over the delayed payments.
“The money paid to these people is very little. Yesterday I held a meeting with the Minister for Finance and the PSST [Permanent Secretary/Secretary to the Treasury] who said they had released the money,” Among noted.
She also scolded security agencies over the cruel management of the demonstrating casual laborers.
“Much as these people were demonstrating, they were just walking while asking for their money. Did they need to be teargassed and beaten? There is a picture I saw of someone who was brutally handled,” Among said.
The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Hon. Nobert Mao, attributed this to the absence of regulations for the Public Order Management Act, noting that it is illegal to use such force.
“We are in the final stages of enacting these regulations so that the discretion is reduced in order that the Police do not violate the Constitution,” said Mao.
He added; “Right now they use the mother Act and believe they have the right to give permission or deny it. The truth of the matter is that they can only regulate it.”
In a Tuesday, 05 March meeting between the Speaker and KCCA leaders including Minister Hon. Minsa Kabanda, Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago and Executive Director Dorothy Kisaka, it was resolved that payments would be made to the sweepers’ SACCO by 06 March 2024.
The street sweepers, who are organised in SACCOs, have gone over four months without pay.
