Prime
The pain of being a Ugandan diplomat
Ministry of Foreign Affairs headquarters in Kampala. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- Information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that Uganda’s diplomats are among the worst paid and worst facilitated.
- Ambassador Harold Acemah, who retired in 2007 after 37 years in the Foreign Service, says whereas the NRM government has made improvements to the pay and working conditions of FSOs, a lot more can still be done.
Representing one’s country abroad is meant to be a high paying job. That is at least the impression that many a Ugandan have. The reality though is that many of Uganda’s envoys have found working and living abroad not any different from the proverbial bed of thorns.
Working abroad comes with many challenges for the families of Uganda’s diplomats. Many envoys are living apart from their spouses and children because the salaries and living allowances simply will not allow for one big happy family living in a bungalow with a well-manicured front yard.
Ambassador Harold Acemah, who retired in 2007 after 37 years in the Foreign Service, said the tale of poor pay is not peculiar to Uganda.
“It is not just a Ugandan problem. It is an African problem. Generally African countries do not pay their diplomats well,” Ambassador Acemah told Monitor, adding, “Nigeria used to pay well, but not anymore.”
It was not possible to establish what the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Service pays its diplomats, but according to www.salary.com, the salaries range between $28,423 (about Shs108.5 million) and $33,860 (about Shs129.3 million) per year depending on, among other things, the region in which one works, education levels, experience and skills’ sets.
Information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that Uganda’s diplomats are among the worst paid and worst facilitated.
An envoy, who spoke to Monitor on condition that his identity is not revealed as he is not authorised to speak for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or colleague diplomats, said Ugandan envoys are paid worse than those of poorer countries.
“Foreign Service Officers from even smaller countries like Burundi earn twice as much as what we earn. They are also better facilitated than we are,” the envoy said.
Burundi is considered the poorest country in the world. According to figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Burundi has a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of $228.82 compared to Uganda’s GDP per capita of $1,025
It was not possible to independently verify the diplomat’s claim that Burundi pays its FSOs salaries in the region of $3,000 (about Shs11.4million) a month.
Combo: Ambassador Harold Acemah and Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the ICT minister
Basic salary, allowances
Foreign Service Officers (FSOs), like other public servants, are entitled to a salary in line with the Public Service scales and grades.
Information available to Monitor indicates that heads of missions and their deputies are classified within what is known as Foreign Service Officers class one (FSO1). That falls under Salary Scale U1E (lower) of the general salary structure for the public service for the Financial Year 2022/2023.
The salary for that category of public servants ranges between Shs1,690,781 and Shs1,624,934 per month or Shs20,289,366 and Shs19,499,212 per year. That reduces considerably once taxes are deducted.
“Heads of mission and their deputies get a monthly basic net salary of Shs1,390,000 from headquarters,” said another envoy.
That means many public servants, including Assistant Commissioners, whose salaries were enhanced from Shs2.7 million to Shs6.5 million; Principal Officers, whose salaries were increased from Shs2.5 million to Shs4.5 million; Senior Officers whose salaries rose from Shs2.3 million to Shs4.25 million and; two different categories of graduate science teachers, whose salaries were increased from Shs2.2 million to Shs4 million and another from between Shs1,496,690 and Shs1.72 million to Shs4.25 million are much better paid than the diplomats.
Others, whose salaries are much better, include the different categories of Diploma holder science teachers whose salaries were increased from between Shs1,102,361 and Shs1,183,720 to Shs4 million and another from Shs933,966 to Shs2.2 million.
Allowances
The envoys are, however, entitled to a raft of allowances, some of which are determined by, among others, a diplomat’s marital status and the category in which the country of service falls.
Missions are categorised into two different groups, notably A and B, arrived at according to the cost of living index.
Married diplomats and those serving in missions in category A countries pick bigger Foreign Service allowance perks than their single colleagues and those based in missions in category B countries. This is because it is assumed that it is cheaper to live and work in missions in category B countries.
Inadequate FSA
According to a copy of a circular detailing Foreign Service entitlements to staff at all Uganda’s missions abroad, married heads of missions and their deputies in category A countries are entitled to a Foreign Service Allowance (FSA) of $4,823 (about Shs18.4 million) per month, while their unmarried colleagues are entitled to a FSA of $4,193 (about Shs16 million) per month.
FSA perks due to other married officers within scales ranging from Foreign Service Officer Class two (FSO2) and Foreign Service Officer class six (FSOVI) range from $4,621 (about Shs17.6 million) to $3,116 (about Shs11.9 million), while their unmarried colleagues within the same scales and pay grade are entitled to FSA ranging between $4,023 (about Shs15.4 million) and $2,629 (about Shs10 million) per a month.
Married heads of missions and their deputies in category B countries are entitled to a FSA of FSOs $3,854.27 (about Shs14.7 million) while their single counterparts take $3,418 (about Shs13 million).
Other single FSOs within lower scales and pay grades are entitled to FSAs ranging between $3,287 (about Shs12.5 million) and $2,030 (about Shs7.7 million), while their married contemporaries are entitled to FSAs ranging between $3,701.4 (about Shs14.1 million) and $2,367 (about Shs9 million) per a month.
Information from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also indicates that heads of stations and their deputies are entitled to representation allowances, which come down to $400 (about Shs1.5 million) for those in category A countries and $200 (about Shs765,124) for those in category B countries.
“When put together, the FSA and representation allowance may look big when converted into shillings, but it is actually very little money in some cities like New York where a meal can go for anywhere between $100 (about Shs382,000) and $325 (about Shs1.2 million) per a person. The FSA usually gets finished before the end of month,” another envoy said.
However, the embassies have expense accounts from which per diems to execute officials duties are drawn.
Mr Vincent Bagiire, the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Under the foreign Affairs standing regulations, officers at ambassadorial level are entitled to per Diem amounting to $390 (about Shs1.5 million) per a day, while junior staff are entitled to $360 (about Shs1.4 million) per a day, but that per diem is only given to officers going out on official business outside one’s mission and the diplomat is required to account for the same by submitting a formal report about the business that the diplomat attended to.
Mr Milton Muwuma, the Kigulu South MP, who sits on Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, said the committee is aware of information that some diplomats are either scrounging or engaging in petty trade in order to survive. Others are taking on odd jobs.
“In some of the countries where they work, there are conditions that allow them to engage in other activities that provide them with additional money that enables them to survive. Others use a percentage of the non-tax revenue that they are allowed to spend at source in order to survive,” Mr Muwuma said.
This, however, exposes the diplomats to engagement in unethical conduct. Only in September last year, the police in Kampala arrested a foreign service officer attached based at the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for illegally issuing diplomatic notes to 11 people who had applied for United States visa.
Families on the brink
The government provides a one-off children’s allowance for up to four children per diplomat, with the first entitled to $890 (about Shs3.4 million); the second $820 (about Shs3.1 million); the third $670 (about Shs2.5 million); and the fourth $650 (about Shs2.4 million).
Up to four children aged between four and 18 are entitled to air tickets to visit their parents at least once a year, but this particular allowance often becomes too expensive an undertaking for the diplomats’ work station.
“In most cases the embassy budgets do not have capacity to meet that requirement. In that case the standing orders allow the Foreign Service Officer to get a ticket and visit the family back home, but at times raising this ticket is also a challenge. If the officers use their money, it is reimbursed later, but that too takes long,” a diplomat revealed.
Diplomats in Category A countries are also entitled to an education allowance of up to $2,500 (about Shs9.5 million) per child per year for up to four children between the ages of four and 18.
Those in category B countries are entitled to an education allowance of $2,000 (about Shs7.6 million) per child per year, but diplomats find it impossible to place children in schools in countries where they work because education does not come on the cheap.
“$2,000 or $2,500 per child per year will afford you first class education in Uganda because the termly fees are within the region of Shs2 million in schools like Kibuli, Gayaza, or Namagunga, but it cannot get you a child’s education in an international school where the termly fees are in the region of $4,500 per term,” an envoy told this publication.
The diplomat added that whereas it would perhaps have been possible to enrol their children in public schools which are cheaper, the languages of instruction in those countries are often local, not English.
As a result, the envoy said, most FSOs have resorted to letting their children study in Uganda where the allowance can afford them a good education.
“The downside is that parents do not have much of an opportunity to mentor their children because most of the year they are not together,” a diplomat says.
The issue extends beyond just the children being left behind in Uganda; spouses too also seem to face unfortunate circumstances. In many countries, diplomatic spouses are not permitted to work, and the meagre monthly FSA makes it difficult for many of them to remain with their partners at their assigned diplomatic postings.
“The situation causes tremors in family relationships. Not only with spouses, but also children. It kills the family bond due to long distance relationships. It at times leads to the collapse of marriages,” another diplomat said.
If the Ministerial Policy Statement for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the FY2022/2023 is anything to go by, top honchos at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are aware of the trying conditions and circumstances of our diplomats.
“Inadequate foreign service allowance and education allowance of children of foreign service officers rendering officers unable to cope up with the rising cost of living in the host countries,” the statement said.
What is being done
Mr Vincent Bagiire, the Permanent Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said matters around inadequate pay and miserly FSA have since been taken up with Parliament and the Ministry of Finance.
“I think we have made our case before both the committee on Foreign and the Ministry of Finance to make sure we have adequate resources,” PS Bagiire said.
Ambassador Harold Acemah, who retired in 2007 after 37 years in the Foreign Service, says whereas the NRM government has made improvements to the pay and working conditions of FSOs, a lot more can still be done.
Dr Chris Baryomunsi, the Information and Communication Technology minister, dismissed the deduction. He says the predicament is down to a small resources envelope amid a sea of needs.
“We are aware that the Foreign Service continues to face challenges in terms of resources, but it does not mean that it is not a priority. We progressively continue to increase the allocation, but we have to distribute the meagre resources across the entire spectrum. When we rationalise resource allocation, areas like health, like education, like wealth creation, which have a direct impact on people, get more funds,” Dr Baryomunsi said.
That might dampen the diplomats’ hopes, but in the words of Mr Milton Muwuma, the Kigulu South MP, who sits on Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, lies some hope for better things to come.
“The committee has taken a stand that the welfare of these ambassadors and staff needs to be given due attention in the next budget,” Mr Muwuma said.
