A demonstration by Kampala City Council casual laborers yesterday ended in a stalemate with the 300 workers still demanding for the payment of their wages for the past three months.
The demonstration began yesterday evening at the KCC parking yard in Industrial Area in Kampala. The workers had assembled, expecting to be paid, but were disappointed when they were turned away because some of their names were not on the payroll.
Charles Lwanga, one of the workers, says he is one of a long list of people whose names were not on the payroll. He says KCC owes him 720,000 shillings in unpaid wages dating back to June.
Another worker, William Mayanja, says that without the money he is unable to feed his family of three. He says the explanations given by KCC for the delayed payment and the payroll problems are unsatisfactory and he is demanding immediate compensation for his labor.
The manager of the KCC payroll section, Joseph Balikudembe, says the mix up is not the fault of the council. He says many of the workers demanding their wages do not have identity cards and some names appear on the payroll multiple times.
Balikudembe says the problem only affects workers in Kampala Central Division. He says they have been instructed to return to KCC later this week with proper identification and letters from their local councils before the wages can be disbursed.
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Balikudembe says workers in other divisions received their money once the payroll was cleaned up and the identities of all the casual laborers were confirmed.
