Kadaga Tasks Government to Fulfill Pledges for Public Prosecutors

Speaker Rebecca Kadaga has directed the Prime Minister to intervene in cabinet undertakings to fulfill Government pledges to address the plight of working conditions of prosecutors in the office of the Director of Public Prosecution.

During Tuesday plenary, Kadaga said that government has not yet fulfilled their undertaking to public prosecutors since the 2017 industrial action.

“I received a letter from Uganda Association of Prosecutors expressing their disappointment of failure by government to honour its undertaking to improve the terms and working conditions of prosecutors,” Kadaga said.

In June 2017, prosecutors went on industrial action calling for government to among others waive taxes on salaries and other emoluments through an amendment of Income Tax Act, pass supplementary budget to increase their salaries to the level of their counterparts and fill existing vacancies in their structures.

According to Kadaga, in spite of several correspondences including a letter she wrote to the Prime Minister on 25th May 2018, to follow up on undertakings by cabinet on these issues, apparently, nothing has happened.

“I don’t want parliament to be associated with the inefficiency of government and I want the Prime Minister to intervene especially that we are starting the budget process to ensure fulfillment of government undertakings to improve the plight of working conditions of prosecutors,” Kadaga said.

The 2017 industrial action by prosecutors from Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) paralysed most court trials countrywide leading to clogging of the criminal justice system.