Two security guards deployed at Rupa seed secondary school in Moroto district have gone eleven months without pay. The guards were contracted by African Construction Technical Uganda Limited to protect the school when the construction works started in 2020 to completion in August 2022.
The school was commissioned on October 28th, 2202. The two grumbling guards told URN that they last recieved payment in December 2021. They say that their bosses are no longer responding to their demands for payment. John Logith, one of the guards told URN that they are demanding salaries amounting to 3.3 million Shillings.
Logith says that he has been struggling to feed his family over the past months and the children are becoming malnourished due to the lack of food. According to Logith, their contract with the construction company ended in October but district officials instructed them to continue working despite the outstanding dues.
‘’The DEO told us to continue guarding the school but they are not talking of clearing our outstanding dues, the contractor is not seen and now that the school is handed over to the district, I don’t know who is responsible for paying us’’ he wondered.
Logith says they have lost interest in work and sometimes he is forced to abandon work to get casual labor in order to get support for their families.
Charles Kumakech Oluba, the Moroto Chief Administrative Officer confirmed that the arrears for the guards had accumulated but unfortunately the company responsible for clearing their dues has gone mute.
Oluba said the guards should not lose hope because the district is still holding eight million Shillings meant for the constructor after the retention period of six months. He advised the aggrieved guards to be patient and assured them that their arrears would be paid soon after the completion of the retention period.
George William Wopuwa, the Moroto Resident District Commissioner, said the guards are going through hardships, saying there is no need to wait for the retention period when their families are starving. Wopuwa says the situation is unacceptable and the concerned authorities should consider clearing the arrears of the guards as soon as possible. He also revealed that he expected the district education officer to have cleared the guards before they commissioned the school because it has been overdue.URN
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