Salary Arrears Force NRM to Lay Off Hundreds of Staffers

The future could seem bleak for hundreds of staffers of the ruling NRM party after the Secretary General, Justine Kasule Lumumba announced that the party will lay off over 400 employees.

Lumumba revealed on Tuesday that NRM is in the process of terminating contracts of a total 419 staffers. The party says that it is restructuring to address the problem of accumulating salary arrears for its hundreds of employees.

She told journalists that the process also seeks to do away with the inexperienced human resource especially now that the party staffers will be part of the implementation of the NRM manifesto.

“We have decided to restructure. We have 419 staff members and they all have to be paid a monthly salary. But the party have not paid 9 months in arrears,” she said.

She said that the party can not afford to keep miserable people around it. The NRM district offices are yet to be paid their salaries for the months of January and February.

In light of this, the Secretariat has issued all its employees a two months prior notice to terminate their employment.

“We want to get staff that will manage the current political challenges. Previously, the party was not involved in implementation of the manifesto but that’s now changing,” Lumumba said.

“We need professionals who will manage the budget and also be able to generate ideas around funding”.

According to the Secretary General, the restructuring will also streamline issues where some workers have been overqualified and underpaid and viceversa.

However, this process will not affect the office of the Secretary General and Deputy, that of the Finance Director, the Electoral Commission Chairperson, Legal as well as the Treasurer and Deputy.

District offices have been directed to conduct interviews of new candidates for the employment positions and later submit a list of successful candidates.