Prosecutors have sent a protest note to the president of Uganda Association of Prosecutors (UAP) Batson Baguma over his failure to address their concerns.
The complaints are prosecutors at the rank of State Attorney, who were admitted into the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions in 2015.
In a 25th August 2021 letter, prosecutors say there are very pertinent and key issues that have affected them for a long time and for long these issues have been discussed at diverse Extra Ordinary and Annual General Meetings convened by UAP Executive. However, little or no success has been achieved overtime.
“The UAP members who serve in the Public Service of Uganda as Prosecutors ought to earn salaries in accordance with the government’s salary structure for legal professionals.Whereas these prosecutors are similarly skilled and perform roles generally identical to the rest of the legal professionals in the public service, the prosecutors earn wages that are unreasonably disparate and unjustly lower than the rest of their counterparts in the Judiciary, Kampala Capital City Authority, Uganda Registration Services Bureau, and Uganda Revenue Authority among others. It’s only logical that officers who do the same work in the JLOS institutions should be considered for remuneration in a uniform manner,”Khaukha James and Akankwasa Andrew Kashaija said on behalf of other members of UAP.
“Different levels of remuneration of for example, prosecutors and judicial officers at the same level of seniority in the JLOS institutions, can only cause disharmony and destroy the unity, uniform performance and efficiency,”they added.
In June 2017, prosecutors of the ODPP who were carrying out an industrial action then, acting under UAP requested Government to address a number of their concerns. A Cabinet Sub-committee was instituted to address the concerns of the prosecutors, comprising of the Minister of Justice & Constitutional Affairs, Attorney General, Minister of Finance Planning and Economic Development, Minister of Public Service, the Solicitor General, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Public Service, and Director of Public Prosecutions which culminated into a commitment letter dated 11th July 2017 signed by the then Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Hon. Maj. Gen. Kahinda Otafiire.
The Government committed itself to waive tax on salaries of the Prosecutors; elevate the salaries of the Prosecutors to a level equivalent to salaries of employees in the Uganda Registration Services Bureau;l and fast track the ODPP Bill.
Government also said it would provide professional and Responsibility allowances to the ODPP staff in the following financial year; facilitate the ODPP to better carry out its functions and restructure and promote under the New Structure to fill all vacant positions.
However, according to prosecutors, from the time the industrial action was lifted, little has been done by their umbrella body to ensure that the government commitments are fulfilled to the core.
“There has not been any waiver of taxes off from our pay, our salaries have never been elevated to the level of Legal Officers in URSB, no progress has been made to effect the promulgation of the ODPP Bill, we have never received Professional and Responsibility allowances since 2018 to date. Save for the promotions of Assistant DPPs and Chief State Attorneys, all the other categories of State Attorneys who were admitted in 2010, 2011 and 2015 have not been promoted. We must point out though that we are grateful for the promotions of prosecutors to some of the afore mentioned positions,” Khaukha and Akankwasa noted.
” Government having failed to honour its commitment, we sought legal redress in court under our umbrella of UAP. In as much as the orders sought were not granted, the court gave a Declaratory Order that the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs was in violation of the our legitimate expectation on the commitments made in the letter dater 11th July 2017 and should ensure that the same is not frustrated. However, no progress has been registered to implement the Order of Court.”
The prosecutors says UAP is a vehicle upon which they through its Executive should push government to fulfil its commitments. However, nothing is being done by the UAP Executive Committee to push towards attaining the complete fulfilment of the Commitment Letter.
“If anything is done at all, we are not informed.”
The prosecutors further warned their boss Mr Baguma and his executive to pull up their socks to demand for the fulfillment of the commitments made by government.
“It’s upon this background that we write this protest note to you, demanding that you pull up your socks, strategize appropriately and push hardest until the Government fulfils its commitments as per its Commitment Letter. We are tired of the rhetoric that the government officials have the good will for our cause. What we demand is, for that purported good will to be implemented,” they asserted.
“We also demand that His Excellency the President of Uganda grants us an opportunity to meet and interact with him to share more about the concerns of the prosecutors and also demystify the negative attitude that some government officials have over time attached to prosecutors. It’s unfortunate that no effort to this endeavor has been taken with the seriousness it deserves.We have taken note of the fact that the UAP Executive has been passive to pursue these endeavors which inaction has caused a lot of frustration, demoralization, and demotivation amongst prosecutors across board.”
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