MPs grumble over salary deductions
The government Chief Whip, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa (L) and the Clerk to Parliament Ms Jane Kibirige
What you need to know:
- According to Ms Nankabirwa, member’s consent and authorisation to allow deductions from their accounts is only valid with proof of their signatures.
KAMPALA. The government Chief Whip, Ms Ruth Nankabirwa, is currently an angry woman.
In her correspondence to the Parliament Clerk, which Daily Monitor has seen, she expresses strong disapproval in the manner in which her emolument is being deducted to support causes that she says she is already doing in her constituency.
The Kyankwanzi District Woman MP claims her account is being accessed without her consent, wondering where the accounts and finance department of Parliament got the authorisation to do so.
In the letter, which she also copied in all Members of Parliament, saying this is a matter that several legislators are unhappy with, Ms Nankabirwa said she has since noticed two deductions in her previous payslips which she has never authorised.
She wrote: “There is a deduction towards the She Cranes of Shs500, 000 (Five hundred thousand shillings) and another deduction of Shs250, 000 towards the Cancer Bunker of Nsambya Hospital.”
She continued: “Madam Clerk, my first complaint is in the manner in which my account and I presume other member’s accounts are accessed for deduction. A member’s salary/emoluments account can never be accessed by a resolution. It’s either by instruction by the member or court.”
According to Ms Nankabirwa, member’s consent and authorisation to allow deductions from their accounts is only valid with proof of their signatures.
However, she emphasised that her move shouldn’t mean that she does not support the She -Cranes or Nsambya Hospital causes.
“Madam Clerk, donation is by choice and not an obligation, donation by Member of Parliament is at will not by resolution, and no such resolution will ever be binding to a member unless by use of force,” she wrote.
She was also of the view that corporate social responsibility can be best dealt with by Parliament as an institution rather than resorting to unauthorised deductions of members’ emolument.
She ended by saying; “…I would therefore not authorise deductions from my emoluments account. I pray that my complaint be addressed.”
When contacted, both the director for communication and public relations, Mr Chris Obore and the Clerk to Parliament Ms Jane Kibirige, said they haven’t yet seen the correspondence written by Ms Nankabirwa.
However, Ms Kibirige said Shs250,000 deduction was agreed upon by the entire august house as a tribute to She Cranes.
