Support
staff at Lira District Health Department are demanding payment of lunch allowances.
The over 30 staff comprising porters, watchmen, and record assistants have missed their allowances since August last year. Each of the support staff is
demanding 1.1 Million Shillings for five months.
Moses Owot, the staff coordinator explains that the staff are
struggling to not only support their families but also to service their
loans which have led to a loss of property to loan sharks.
Luo bite
//Cue in:
“Ka yin ineno…
Cue out: …
demanding cente ibotwa.”//
According to Owot, attempts to get an explanation from the responsible district
authorities has proven futile.
Luo bite:
//Cue in: “Lira district dong…
Cue out: …file pe tye.”//
Albert
Apenyo, the Principal Human Resource Officer of Lira attributed the challenge
to the introduction of the Human Capital Management(HCM) System which he says unknowingly
deactivated the allowances for all staff in the health department from the time
government enhanced salaries for medical workers.
Apenyo says that the district is aware of the problem and has written to the
Ministry to have it rectified.
//Cue in: “They cannot blame…
Cue out: …
making a follow-up.”//
In September, Lira district medical workers went on strike over unpaid salaries
for a period of not less than five months. The delay was attributed to the HCM
system which was later restored and they received their payments.
HCM transforms the traditional administrative functions of human resources departments
including recruiting, compensation, benefits, learning, time tracking, and
payroll.
The system
has been rolled out in four mock sites comprising the Ministry of Public Service,
Public Service Commission, National Information Technology Authority Uganda, and
Lira and Mbarara District Local Government.
