BENEFICIARY: Mr Lukwago, CRITICISED: Ms Musisi and NAMED: Mr Museveni 

Kampala City Capital Authority’s top technocrat Jennifer Musisi has proposed for herself a monthly salary in excess of Shs43.7 million, which will make her the highest paid civil servant in the country. A new pay structure she wants approved by the Public Service Ministry would also see her and other Authority employees benefiting from two parallel retirement schemes.
Ms Musisi’s proposed gross pay will displace at the top of the scale the Auditor General, Mr John Muwanga’s (Shs36m); National Water & Sewerage Corporation managing director Dr William Muhairwe (Shs30m); Uganda Revenue Authority Allen Kagina (Shs28m) and IGG Raphael Baku (Shs18m).
Unfair
But even before Ms Musisi gets ministerial clearance, payroll managers in the ministry and Members of Parliament have criticised the draft salary structure as “unfair” compared to what other poorly-paid civil servants earn.
Lawmakers have decided they will oppose the pay proposals which some say have been tailored to “bribe” opposition politicians holding elective office in KCCA into silence.
Shadow minister for local government Betty Nambooze, yesterday asked opposition politicians in KCCA to be wary of “fat cat” salaries she described as “bait”. “They want the Lord Mayor and others to look ugly in the eyes of the voters that they are also eating. They want to buy political leaders into silence,” Ms Nambooze said.
“As much as this executive director and others want these obscene salaries, we shall not allow them. How about other civil servants? What kind of job is she doing that warrants such a huge salary?” she asked. “This lady cannot take Shs43.7 million when the rest of the population is suffering; when the economy is suffering.”
Eating big
Daily Monitor has seen a copy of the proposed salary structure Ms Musisi submitted to the Ministry of Public Service in which her deputy would earn Shs33 million, the KCCA director at the level of commissioner Shs27.4 million, and the deputy director at the rank of an assistant commissioner will be getting Shs24 million.
Average pay for support staff is proposed at Shs2.2 million per month. A Mr Charles Ouma, who answered Ms Musisi’s cell phone, said: “The Ministry of Public Service, Ministry of Finance together with the minister in-charge of Kampala are the ones to determine the salaries, not the executive director. But as technical people, we only made proposals; the working documents for the minister. Those people complaining should wait for the minister to make a final statement on KCCA salaries.”
Political leaders in Kampala, including Lord Mayor Erias Lukwago, will also pocket salaries way above the average Shs11 million pay of an MP. If approved, the Lord Mayor will be paid Shs33 million, deputy Lord Mayor Shs27.4 million, division mayors Shs27 million and deputy division mayors Shs12 million.
Sources have told Daily Monitor that a meeting called by Public Service minister Henry Kajura to discuss the new KCCA salary structure last Friday demanded that Ms Musisi justifies the figures. “In a letter she wrote to the minister which was read to us in the meeting, Ms Musisi said the President allowed her to draft her own salary structure.
But most of the members insisted that the salary proposals were outrageous and that she must table evidence to that effect,” a member of the Public Service Committee studying KCCA’s salary structure said. Ms Musisi’s claim is likely to resurrect debate about the need for an independent body to set salaries for all civil servants.
The member said: “We want to see the letter from the President otherwise the amounts are outrageous and unacceptable. We have summoned the executive director to appear before  the committee before any approval is made. Our view is that the KCCA salary structure should be in conformity with other institutions of government.” After her lumpsum figures were rejected, Ms Musisi sent details which indicate that KCCA would be running two parallel retirement benefit schemes.
The Ministry of Public Service says this will be illegal. “We expected to see medical allowances, housing allowance and transport allowances not PAYE, NSSF and RBS,” a source said.
“These are the issues provided for under the public service salary structure. We want them to retain the mainstream government salary structure because their proposed salaries are too big and distort the salary structure of government.”
The source added: “For instance, teachers are classified under U7 salary scale but under the proposed KCCA salary structure, the officials under the same scale will be earning Shs3.3 million yet teachers are earning about Shs200,000. This is unfair.”
NSSF was originally mooted as a safety net for private sector workers raising queries why a government agency would contribute to it. At the same time, Ms Musisi also proposes an in-house retirement benefits scheme where employees will contribute 6 per cent of their salary to be banked with a financial institution of KCCA choice. The Ministry of Public Service has rejected the plan, insisting that the government cannot be responsible for such a scheme.
Kampala minister Kabakumba Masiko was reportedly too busy to offer a comment on the issue.
Extravagance
Under the Kampala Capital City Act 2010, the salaries are decided by the line minister with approval of Public Service.
However, the Chairperson of the Presidential Affairs Committee, Mr Barnabas Tinkasiimire (Buyaga), said: “Such salaries are not sustainable and I find it too extravagant yet the government has been claiming it’s pro-poor. They are going to cause a crisis in public service.”Documents submitted to Parliament last week indicated that Ms Musisi’s driver receives a gross pay of Shs7 million, which makes him the highest paid government driver in the country, while Patrick Mugyenyi, her personal assistant, receives Shs9.6 million. MPs have heard that KCCA officials also allegedly took home Shs100 million in allowances for the month of June alone.