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Ex-EAC Employees Finally Receive Terminal Benefits After 40-Year Wait Following Parliamentary Approval
Caption:Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Thomas Tayebwa
Kampala, Uganda – Parliament has passed the East Africa Community (EAC) Mediation Agreement Bill, ending the over 40-year wait by former EAC employees for the payment of their pension, gratuity, and terminal benefits.
The agreement, which was signed in 1984 by the three heads of state of Kenya (Daniel Arap Moi), Uganda (Apollo Milton Obote), and Tanzania (Julius Nyerere), will now become law once assented to by H.E. President Yoweri Museveni Kaguta.
The process began two years ago when the matter of national importance was raised by the Kole North MP, Hon. Dr. Samuel Opio Acuti, over the delay in the payment of the terminal benefits of the former EAC employees on the floor of Parliament.
Hon. Samuel Opio Acuti has long been popular both in plenary sessions and committee sittings of Parliament, as well as through his active participation in his constituency, Kole North, where the community fully values his representation.
This agreement clearly stipulated the payment of pensions, gratuities, and terminal benefits using the formula and scope stipulated in the service regulations of the East African Community. However, the government had used Uganda’s Pension Act, which did not cater to certain benefits and had a different formula, leading to underpayment.
The committee was further informed during the submissions that in Kenya and Tanzania, these agreements were ratified by their Parliaments, making it a statutory obligation for governments to ensure employees received their benefits. However, in Uganda, this was not done. Several attempts to have it ratified by Parliament in the early 1990s and 2000s did not yield much progress.
The committee, in its report, recommended that the EAC Mediation Agreement be enacted into law. Consequently, the Ministry of EAC Affairs, led by Rt. Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, tabled the bill late last year in Parliament. This was processed by the committee and adopted by Parliament this week.
The agreement will make it a statutory obligation for the government to make budgetary allocations in line with the mediation agreement for the payment of pensions, gratuities, and terminal benefits of the former EAC employees.
The EAC collapsed in 1977, causing job losses for over 10,000 East African Community employees who had worked in several corporations, including East African Railways, East African Post and Telecommunications Services, and East African Airways, among others, across the three states.
Source:Ankole Times