Uganda:EC officials to get 100% pay rise as motivation ahead of polls

{All Electoral Commission (EC)officials are set to receive a pay raise of up to 100 per cent next year to “motivate them” ahead of next year’s general election.}

Details before the House’s Budget Committee show that the monthly pay for EC Chairman, Badru Kiggundu has been doubled from Shs5m to Shs10m, representing a 100 per cent rise under the proposed salary structure.
The pay for the commissioners will also be hiked from Shs4.5m to about Shs9 million.

Justifying the pay rise to EC officials, the Chairperson of the Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Mr Steven Tashobya (Kajara), who was presenting the 2016/17 EC budget to the House Budget Committee, said “the miserable pay” could led EC officials into temptations, adding that EC operates on a salary structure that was set up in 1999.

Mr Tashobya asked: “How can a person who organises elections for the President and other forms of elections in the whole country earn Shs5m? We are leading these people into temptations. They work hard but they are getting peanuts. The proposed pay rise for EC officials is urgent.”

Appearing before the Legal and parliamentary Afairs Committee last week, Eng Kiggundu, pleaded with MPs for an increment in the salary of the commission staff to enable them cope with the high cost of living.

He said for the last 15 years, none of the commission staff has received a pay rise despite the hard economic times.
If Parliament approves the pay rise for EC, the wage bill will automatically increase from Shs8.8 billion to Shs17.6 billion.

The MPs have also approved an additional Shs10b to Judiciary to cater for the proposed increase in allowances for senior judges. However, in the budget, there is no pay rise for government lawyers.

KCCA executive director earns Shs43 million, Auditor General (AG), Shs36 million, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) commissioner general, Shs28 million and Inspector General of Government (IGG) about Shs18 million. Meanwhile, the Budget Committee heard that out of Shs44 billion required to hold LCI elections in the country, the government has allocated only Shs7b, leaving a shortfall of Shs37b. Since 2001, EC has not held elections, citing financial constraints.

Source:Daily Monitor:[EC officials to get 100% pay rise as motivation ahead of polls->http://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/Elections/EC-officials-to-get-100–pay-rise-as-motivation-ahead-of-polls/-/859108/3008806/-/teodje/-/index.html]