Government increases salaries of doctors and judicial officers

Uganda Medical Association president Ekwaro Obuku addresses medical doctors during their strike in 2017. PHOTO BY RACHEL MABALA

Government has released a new salary structure, providing for an increment for medical and judicial officers for the financial year that begun on Monday.

The July 1st circular signed by Ministry of Public Service, Permanent Secretary Catherine Bitarakwate, shows that the country’s wage bill for the new financial year stands at Shs4.69 trillion, up from Shs4.2 trillion in 2018/2019.

The wage bill therefore accounts for 25.5 per cent of the local revenue projections for the financial year 2019/20, estimated at Shs18.3 trillion.

According to Bitarakwate’s circular, the new wage allocation is based on among other factors, salary enhancement for employees in the health and judicial sectors, as well as  the planned recruitment of staff for upgrading health centre IIs to health centre IIIs, and operationalizing seed schools.

“Government remains committed to a phased approach to pay enhancement in accordance with the pay policy principles and targets approved by cabinet in 2017,” Bitarakwate explained.

Eight categories of employees will benefit from the salary increments. These include, District health officers and their assistants, Specialist medical officers, dental surgeons and pharmacists in salary scale U2, consultants, senior consultants and directors of hospitals.

Health professionals at the level of Assistant Commissioner, commissioners, directors and the director general of health services will also have salary increments.

On November 6, 2017,

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Entebbe Municipality mayor, Vincent De Paul Kayanja, said they would not allow MP Tumusiime to lie to the country that residents of Entebbe support amending the constitution amendment yet she only invited NRM members to attend her guarded consultative meeting, “a big number of whom were not residents of Entebbe.”

over government’s failure to meet their demands for salary and allowance increment, as well as review the supply of medicines and other equipment in health centres.

President Yoweri Museveni then deployed doctors from the military to public hospitals to cover services and issued a directive warning doctors to return to work or face serious consequences.

During further negotiations with the professionals, government made a commitment to enhance their salaries in a phased manner.

Around the same time,

Two admitted with Marburg symptoms

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, leaving several litigants across the country stranded.

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The circular shows that salaries of legal professionals in the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, justices, judges and judicial officers have also been increased.

Although the funds provided for salary enhancement include those for the education sector, the monies have not been distributed in the view of the ongoing discussions between the Public service labour unions and government.

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“The ongoing discussions between the public service labour unions and government are in accordance with the law and cover all employee groups whose salaries have not been enhanced,” Bitarakwate said.

At the beginning of the second term in May this year,

Teachers insist on strike ahead of term

Mr Patrick Muinda, the Ministry of Education spokesperson, said they had not received any information from the teachers on the industrial action

. They however called off their strike ten days later after a meeting with president Museveni.