Staff in Luweero and Nakaseke Districts will not receive their salaries ahead of the festive season due to persistent budget shortfalls, the officials have announced.
In Nakaseke district, the affected staff have been put on notice to anticipate a delay in the payment of salaries for the month of December. According to releases made by the Ministry of Finance in the second quarter of the financial year, the district has a wage shortfall of 1.3 billion Shillings.
The notice issued by Martin Osemba on behalf of the Office of Chief Administrative Officer indicates that the staff have been asked to wait patiently until the Ministry of Finance offsets the deficit. The most affected staff are health workers, agricultural extension officers, as well as secondary and tertiary education staff, among others.
In Luweero, the district Chairman Erastus Kibirango said that their wage bill increased to 53.4 billion Shillings after the enhancement of salaries for science teachers, yet the district had planned for 43.1 billion Shillings.
Kibirango adds that although they have received some additional releases, the funds are not enough to pay for all the staff.
The Luweero District Human Resource Officer Bernard Okello says that they have a shortfall of 1.6 billion Shillings which the Ministry of Finance has to offset so that they pay all staff.
Okello, however, noted that they are still making internal administrative arrangements to ensure that all staff gets salaries ahead of the festive season.
Secondary School teachers who preferred anonymity said it will be unfortunate to miss their salary but they remain optimistic that the payments will come through before Christmas.
They added that delays have become common since the announcement of enhancements for their colleagues in science dockets.
Both Luwero and Nakaseke district authorities declined to list the exact number of staff that will be affected by the delays saying it will create unnecessary panic and demoralise staff.
