The former staff of Kampala City Council (KCC) will be compensated according to the law says Seezi Mbaguta, the Minster of State for Public service.
While appearing before the Parliamentary presidential affairs committee on Thursday, Mbaguta dismissed the notion that staff of the defunct KCC will not receive their severance package and other terminal benefits.
She clarified that the terminal benefits for those declared redundant will include severance package which is designed to facilitate an officer to vacate the office and duty station 30 days from termination.
The minister noted that the amount is paid in three pay out modules of fixed annual benefit, payment in lieu of notice and repatriation costs. She noted that six months gross salary will be paid in lieu of notice while the transportation costs will be 2,000 shillings per kilometer from the duty station to the home District Headquarters. Another flat sum of 200,000 shillings will cover the distance between the home district headquarters to the officer’s home.
In March 2011, KCC’s successor organisation, the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) started running the city affairs.
Asked whether the change of times and inflationary pressures will be considered, Mbaguta told MPs that the law will apply while compensating the workers. She also noted that the restructuring of KCCA will take several months in which the KCC workers would have to undertake interviews in order to retain their positions.
The former workers under their union, Uganda Public Employees Union (UPEU) wanted a recruitment process based on validation and not competitive interviews which would most likely declare them failures. Godfrey Kirega, the UPEU chairman had noted that most of them had worked for more than 30 years in KCC, deserved a good send off with better compensation.
On Tuesday, KCCA Director Jennifer Musisi noted that it was illogical to absorb KCC workers without interviews. She noted that the provisions of the law do not make reference to validation exercise which the workers are advocating.
On getting better packages, Musisi noted that the KCC staff cannot claim the benefits under the KCCA terms because they have not been absorbed since KCCA came into existence in March 2011.
Musisi said Shillings 5 billion had been set aside for the entire restructuring exercise, including payment of terminal benefits for those who may not be absorbed into the new structure.
