Minister Otafiire tasked with explaining delayed Police lawyers' salary increments

KAMPALA - Parliament has given internal affairs minister Gen. Kahinda Otafiire up to Thursday (April 17, 2025) to explain government’s failure to implement a court decision on the Police lawyers’ salary enhancement.

This was after Tororo Woman MP Sarah Opendi raised concerns over the delayed implementation of the officers’ salary increment.

“When I raised the issue of Police salary last week, a group of other Police officers approached me and said the Force has up to now failed to implement the Court decision to have their salary increased. The Minister of Internal Affairs should tell this Parliament what is going on,” she said.

The Minister was, however, not in the House, which prompted Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa to direct him to present a statement on the matter before Parliament on Thursday.

In August last year, court directed the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, to enforce a presidential directive that requires Police lawyers' salaries to be equivalent to those of their counterparts in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).

This was after the Civil Division of the High Court presided over by Justice Musa Ssekaana ruled that the decision of the Ministry of Public Service to reduce the salary of Uganda Police Force legal officers was unconstitutional, illegal and ultra vires. 

Subsequently, the judge quashed the decision made by the Ministry of Public Service to revise (lower) the salary structure of the Uganda Police Force legal officers.

The decision to revise the salary payments of the Uganda Police Force legal professionals downwards below the enhanced salary scale was a violation of the presidential directive and an attempt to undermine the fountain of honour, the judge declared in a ruling dated August 16, 2024.

Consequently, Justice Ssekaana ordered the Attorney General to ensure that the affected police lawyers (applicants) and other legal officers in the same category receive all outstanding salary arrears. 

This includes non-payment and underpayment of their enhanced salary.

The Police officers are Christine Nanding, Paul Fred Mirondo, Katrine Kusemererwa, and Stephen Ibanda Kagoda. Others are Rosemary Victoria Kirunda, Jimmy Shunu Chepkurui and Stella Ninsima Rwambuka.

 In 2008, Government made a policy to enhance salary of lawyers working with government as a measure to control their exit from government to private practice and also to attract professionals to government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The policy stemmed from a lawsuit filed against the Government in 2008 by aggrieved Police legal officers. They initiated the case due to feeling discriminated against after being excluded from a salary enhancement.

Subsequently, in 2010, when the matter was brought to the attention of President Yoweri Museveni, he made a directive that the salaries of the lawyers working with the Police should be enhanced in line with their counterparts working with the Attorney General’s chambers and the ODPP.

The President's directive resulted in a supplementary budget requisition of sh179.6m to cater for arrears ensuing from the discriminatory salary payments.

Court documents indicate that the payments were elicited to the Police legal officers from the rank of Assistant Inspector General of Police to Assistant Superintendent of Police and consequently the Police legal officers abandoned the suit.

According to court documents, from 2010 to 2022, the enhanced wages for lawyers were incorporated into the Uganda Police Force wage bill and all subsequent appointments of legal officers with the Force and their salary scale have been in tender with those of their counterparts in the CDPP.

U-turn

However, in a twist of events, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Service on October 17, 2022, wrote to the Inspector General of Police raising allegations of overpayment of Legel officers in the Uganda Police Force.

Following the communication in March 2023, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Internal Affairs went to the Police lawyers and rescinded their earlier appointments, which had been issued on July 6, 2022, and had been accepted. 

This prompted the legal officers to seek legal redress in the courts of law.