PS Mwanje in trouble over  EAC Pensioners pay   

By Our reporter 

PS Edith  Mwanje and  Government have been challenged  by the former workers of the  defunct East African community [EAC] workers to ensure that their pay was affected less they petition the president for action.

The senior citizens have as well demanded that a forensic audit be done to establish why the government has not paid them their pension for the last over 39 years despite numerous promises.

The citizens currently in the age bracket of 70s and above led by Perry Antone  Namugowa    a former worker as a  tax collector lamented how they are disappointed with the   ministry of East African community affairs which has failed to pay them despite presenting their authentic paper work  for verification with the latest submission being 2023  pending  payment of pension and  other terminal benefits.

Namugowa who is a senior tax consultant and lawyer with chambers at Nakawa said they have collectively cautioned that unless the ministry pays them without any further delay,  they have   agreed to formally write a petition to the president requesting  him to probe the incident and  compel  the ministry to pay them without any further delay..

Namugowa  shared a copy of  a   letter signed  by the ministry permanent secretary Edith N. Mwanje dated 29/03/2023 being in response to  his earlier letter dated 21/03/2023 demanding for payment of pension arrears having waited  for his payment for the last 46 years.

In response Mwanje responded by claiming that   available records  indicate that the internal audit re verification report provides that Namugowa was duly  paid all his  arrears in three installments by the ministry of public service.

The reported installments covered 3,365,700, 11,425,600 and 11,944,246 totaling to 26,735,546/= it is therefore not true that you have never been paid for the last 46 years as claimed.

However, in conclusion, Mwanje noted that the purpose of this letter is to inform you that according to available records and audit reviews, it has been confirmed that you were paid the above amount as your benefits for the service you offered at the EAC and therefore you have no any other outstanding arrears to claim from this ministry.   

The tough speaking Namugowa pulled out a copy of a letter dated 27 JULY 2023 which was in response to Mwanje’s letter dated 19 April 2023 in which Namugowa denied having received money as pension arrears and other terminal benefit arrears from the defunct EAC worth US$23, 491,79 as alleged by Mwanje and demanded that she avails him a copy detailing this payment respectively.

He instead revealed how he was able to retrieve a copy of a payment voucher dated 21 August 2001 from his personal confidential file as payment of the above amount of money in US Dollars of which he never received and is wondering   what happened to that money.

He furthermore said the total figure she referred to of 26,735,546 as having been paid to him as EAC pension arrears is incorrect and to the contrary, that was his pension for latter employment with government and he has no claim against the government in that respect.

Take notice that if you don’t withdraw your letter Ref. EAC /P/1075 dated 29 March 2023 or arrange to pay me my pension and terminal benefits arrears within 30 days from date hereof. I have several actions to take against your illegal decision be it political, administrative, legal, or all because your decision is malicious, unjust and tantamount to denial of my rights noted Namugowa.

He said that notwithstanding, I attach what I honestly believe to be a correct computation of my entitlements as at 30/06/2023 which is US$ 176,091,73 which is the quantum of nonpayment for a period through 46 years which arises out of no fault of mine for sure and take note that what was paid to me had been deducted accordingly.

He copied the letter to the first deputy prime minister and minister for EAC affairs, minister of public service, state minister EAC affairs, the attorney general among other officials.

In this report his name appeared with entitlement gratuity computation of US$ 14, 144, 88 It seems Mwanje has not only disowned but also conveniently avoided this report of the [AG] for reasons best known to herself. 

The first deputy prime minister and minister for East African community affairs Dr. Rebecca Alitwala  Kadaga  while commenting  on the matter  confirmed that the ministry pension office has some challenges which need to be sorted out such that no elders should continue complaining about their pay.

The minister pointed out that she was able to make a presentation of the Former EAC pension status of her ministry on the floor of parliament last September  2023 and told the house how  they managed to trace, verify ,validate and pay a total of 423 pensioners in the recent financial years of 2019/20 and 2021/2022 respectively.

She observed that in the financial year 2022/23 much as 347 files had been verified and cleared for payment but only 163 claimants worth 1,990,659,884/= were physically traced and paid however that a total of 184 failed to present the required relevant information such as letters of administration obtained from competent courts of law, genuine estate bank accounts, tax identification numbers [TIN] to facilitate the creation of supplier numbers as by law established.

Kadaga further explained that in the financial year 2023/24, her ministry had so far verified an additional 31 files worth US$ 93,533,84 while another batch of 1,297  files have been retrieved and are being verified by the technical team for onward submission to the internal audit unit and upon conclusion of the audit exercise, a supplementary budget would be made to ask for funds from the ministry of finance planning and economic development to pay the claimants that would have been cleared.

However the state minister for EAC James Magode Ikuya separately confirmed  that it is  true some desperate pension claimants from upcountry sometimes reach out to  his office with complaints about suspected harassment from the pension office.

When we approached Mwanje for comment over the allegations leveled against her, she quickly denied any wrongdoing saying she was not corrupt and that she has worked in that ministry for over 30 years with a track record therefore anybody accusing her of any wrongdoing was just being unfair to her.