Uganda: 18,000 Constables On Strike Over Pay

Andrew Bagala and Johnson Mayamba

24 March 2011

Over 18,000 Special Police Constables (SPCs) recruited late last year to help in election policing have camped at various police stations and Electoral Commission (EC) offices countrywide for the second day demanding payment of their salaries.

The SPCs are demanding Shs350,000 each from the police and EC which they claim were supposed to be paid after the local government elections. In total, they are demanding Shs6.3 billion.

They have threatened to keep the police uniforms they were given until they are paid.

In Kampala, some of them demonstrated at Kira Division Police Station, while others made their discomfort known in the Central Business District.

In Mukono, over 400 SPCs stormed the district EC and police station offices, protesting delayed payments.

“We were recruited by the DPC who even called us in person. Now we hear that he already received the money but we are wondering why he has up to now refused to pay us,” one constable said.

Police reaction

At Central Police Station in Kampala, Mr Norman Musinga, the District Police Commander, struggled for more than four hours to convince a group of 200 SPCs to return police property and go home. None has an appointment letter.

Police spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said the SPCs’ contracts have expired and their salaries have already been handed over to the respective regional police commanders (RPCs).

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