New salary increments in the budget framework are stirring up excitement and receiving major endorsements from teachers, judges, and medical practitioners.
If the proposals get the nod of approval, all medical workers will receive a 100% pay raise.
According to a list made available to The Observer newspaper, a senior medical consultant shall earn Shs17,400,000, up from Shs7,300,000.
A medical consultant’s paycheque will bulge to Shs12,700,000, up from Shs6,000,000, and a principal medical officer will earn Shs8,000,000, up from Shs4,500,000.
An enrolled nurse will earn Shs1,300,000, up from Shs613,000.
Samuel Oledo, the president of the Uganda Medical Association, said the 100 percent pay raise would motivate medical workers who sacrifice a lot to uplift the standards of Uganda’s medical sector. Oledo emphasized that doctors will eagerly wait for May 2022, for the new salaries to be approved for the new financial year.
He warned, though, that if the pay raise structure is not approved, it would trigger the “mother of all industrial actions” never witnessed in Uganda.
Primary headteachers, according to the new proposals, will earn Shs4,800,000, up from Shs980,000, and secondary head teachers’ pay will climb to Shs10,000,000, up from Shs2,300,000. Grade III primary teachers will earn about Shs 1.3 million, up from Shs 568,000.
For the already highly paid judicial officers, the registrar of the courts of judicature will earn Shs18,500,000, up from Shs10,500,000, chief magistrates will get Shs14,000,000, up from Shs7,500,000; and the solicitor general will now earn Shs20,000,000, up from Shs15.4 million. The state attorney is the least paid judicial officer in the country. He or she earns Shs 1,258,000.
The permanent secretaries’ pay is expected to climb to Shs20,000,000 from Shs15.4 million, directors will earn Shs17.4 million, up from Shs2.3 million, chief administrative officers will pocket Shs17.4 million, up from Shs 3.6 million and police constables will earn Shs1,350,000, up from Shs497,000.
In the last 10 years, the government has grappled with several strike actions sanctioned by different associations and unions of nurses, teachers, medical doctors, and judicial officers.