Hundreds of widows and orphans of the UPDF soldiers are threatening to storm Ministry of Defence headquarters because of delayed pension payment.
The widows who had a closed meeting in Kampala on Monday say the Ministry of Defence cut off their benefits since last year when the ministry told them to submit their bio data for the new Integrated Pension Payment System (IPPS).
With this new system, pension would be paid to the beneficiaries through their mother Ministries where the pensioners worked, but not necessarily Public Service as it had earlier been the case.
The widows suspect the money could have been used during elections. “How can the integration process take a whole year when they have all the data,” Ms Christine Mukama, a widow of a dead UPDF Captain, killed in Somalia.
Ms Mukama says all the information needed was submitted but the Chief of Pensions, Col Metland Bitumbika has been telling them to be patient for the last one year. “There is something wrong but they are not telling us,” Ms Mukama said.
Earlier in January, The UPDF spokesperson, Lt Col Paddy Ankunda, confirmed the pension payments were suspended last year in April to adopt a new Integrated Pensions Payroll system managed by public service.
“It’s true the payments were suspended to allow a new system work. It’s a matter of time for these payments to be re-effected. But it’s not anyone’s intention to delay the payments,” he said.
However the commissioner for Information, Education and Communication in Public Service, Mr Joseph Kiggundu, denied responsibility, saying their ministry cannot be blamed because they only do quality control.
“When the new system was introduced to decentralise the payroll, we only come in to do systematic quality control. If there are delays, let the widows go to the Ministry of Defence and see whether they submitted the required documents,” he said.
A related group of veterans and widows last year asked KCCA to help them raise funds to complete payment for a piece of land that they could face being evicted from. They say they owe the landlord 600 million shillings. The widows said they had not made any preparations for their children but they formed a cooperative after realizing that the government may not fulfill its promise to look after them.
