Government Again Fails On Pension Arrears Deadline

Government has yet again failed to meet a deadline it set for itself to clear pension arrears for over 10,000 former civil servants.

The first deadline of September 15, was set by the secretary to the Treasury, Mr. Keith Muhakanizi, and was followed by the October 15 deadline by the Office of the Prime Minister.

Some of the former civil servants who preferred anonymity say they have checked their bank accounts but there is no money.

The Prime Minister, Dr Rukahana Rugunda, has attributed these further delays to the verification of the records of pensioners of two ministries he does not name.

Without setting a fresh deadline, Dr Rugunda says the ministry of Public Service is now working with those ministries to ensure the payments are made.

Parliament went on recess before the government could provide a list with the names of all those the government claims it has paid and those it hasn’t.

However, last week, the Deputy Secretary to the Treasury, Mr.Patrick Ocailap attributed the delayed payments of salaries and pensions to shortage of funds in the Consolidated Fund.

He told a parliamentary committee that the Uganda Revenue Authority(URA) had not remitted funds to the Fund.

Story By Nelson Wesonga

Written by Reporter