Public Service Ministry Flags Extortion in Local Government Pension, Gratuity Payments

Minister of Public Service Gen Edward Katumba Wamala (C) flanked Lydia Wanyoto, Public Service and Local Government and security officials pose for a photo in Gulu City.

The Ministry of Public Service has raised concerns over an alleged widespread extortion scheme targeting retired civil servants seeking to access their pension and gratuity benefits. Ministry officials say some Human Resource officers in local governments deliberately delay the processing of gratuity payments or withhold information from pension beneficiaries to pressure them into paying money before their retirement benefits are released.

Victor Bua Leku, Commissioner for Compensation at the Public Service Commission, disclosed the alleged practices on Thursday while addressing local government leaders from the Acholi Sub-region during an engagement in Gulu City. Bua said extortion had emerged as one of the major challenges affecting pension beneficiaries in Acholi and other parts of the country, particularly during the processing and payment of gratuity.

“One of the biggest problems we need to resolve is extortion, especially during recruitment and payment of gratuity. Deliberate delays in paying gratuity to make sure the beneficiary comes to explain themselves. I think it’s one of the biggest problems,” Bua said. He said some retirees are allegedly given inaccurate information about the amount of money due to them, with officials adding extra charges that are presented as payments to be shared among local government officials and other authorities.

Bua cited a case in which a retiree could be told that their pension was 180,000 shillings, while an additional 20,000 Shillings was allegedly presented as money to be shared with local government officials and the Public Service Commission. To curb such practices, the commission has advised Chief Administrative Officers and Town Clerks to provide retirees with copies of their pension computation forms showing the exact amounts due in gratuity, pension and arrears.

According to Bua, giving beneficiaries the computation forms would make it more difficult for officials to manipulate figures or demand money from pensioners. Bua said some retirees are allegedly misled into believing that arrears appearing in their pension calculations do not belong to them, while officials withhold the money. He explained that when an employee retires, the payroll system generates separate figures for gratuity, pension and arrears. However, he said some officials allegedly release the gratuity and pension while retaining the arrears.

“So, you are paying this one, and you keep the arrears. That is another form of corruption. We have noticed that continuously, especially when people retire, they will not pay the arrears,” Bua said. He said the problem is compounded by the fact that pension arrears can sometimes be paid years after retirement, creating opportunities for officials to withhold funds belonging to former employees.

The Ministry also attributed some delays in pension processing to poor records management within local governments. Bua urged political leaders to support local government technical teams in acquiring heavy-duty scanners to digitise old personnel files and improve the management and retrieval of employment records. He said better records management would help reduce delays in verifying service records and processing retirement benefits.

In Gulu City, 306 pensioners are currently on the government payroll and receiving their monthly retirement benefits, according to Town Clerk Innocent Ahimbisibwe.

Ahimbisibwe said another 13 retired civil servants had not yet been enrolled on the payroll because they were still completing the required paperwork. In Amuru District, however, Resident District Commissioner Geoffrey Osborn Oceng said inadequate wage provisions had left the district unable to pay gratuity to 30 former nursing officers whose positions were scrapped by the Ministry of Health in the last financial year.

Oceng called for the government to provide the necessary wage allocation to facilitate payment to the retired health workers. He also raised concerns over delays in processing and paying pension and gratuity to other retired civil servants in the district, urging the Ministry of Public Service to expedite the process.

Oceng said prolonged delays undermine the dignity of public servants who have spent years working for government.

“It pains me oftentimes when people who have served this government in local government in different sectors cry for months to receive their pay. We are always in his office; do you think about yourself that when you retire tomorrow you will have to walk all this distance for what you did and served this country? Please, it’s a call for work,” Oceng said. The government has allocated Shs566.44 billion in first-quarter expenditure limits for the 2026/27 financial year to cater for pension and gratuity payments-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com

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