Secretaries under ASAPU during their workshop in Mukono
The Ministry of Public Service has reaffirmed its commitment to the pay enhancement strategy and gives assurance that Secretaries among others will ultimately be considered.
This was in her speech delivered by Dr. Steven Opio Okiror the Ministry commissioner, Human Resource Planning and Development at the annual Secretaries’ two days workshop/training over the weekend organised by the Association of Secretaries and Administrative Professionals in Uganda (ASAPU).
The workshop which was organised in commemoration of the annual Administrative Professionals Week(APW) under the theme: “The Indispensable Secretary/Admin–Elevating Your Professional Presence”.
The PS said that she was aware that secretaries face a number of challenges of which the most prominent is the poor renumeration especially in the Public sector.
“As the Ministry responsible for compensation in the Public Sector, I would like to reaffirm our commitment to the pay enhancement strategy and give assurance that the Secretaries among others will ultimately be considered. The current limitation is due to the economic challenges faced by the Country,” the PS noted.
The PS said that as a way of further handling the challenges faced by secretaries, the Ministry has reconstituted the Professional Development Committee (PDC) of the Secretarial Cadre which was inducted and officially inaugurated.
“Let me urge the members of the committee to ensure that they perform their functions effectively and network widely with the professional associations. On a positive I would like to inform the participants that the Secretarial PDC has been commended as the most active and effective PDC in the entire Public service in the last three years,” Bitarakwate noted.
She further noted that her Ministry has also conducted a baseline survey on professionalization of all cadres in the Public Service and has developed a Framework and strategy adding that the implementation of the strategy has commenced.
The Association President, Julius Ssemaganda said that he is certain that with the commitment from the Ministry of Public Service, their dream of having their salaries enhanced will soon be realized.
Ssemaganda said that with the current economic hardships in the Country, secretaries who earn as low as Shs.400,000 are finding it hard to survive in the high cost of living economy.
ASAPU President Julius Ssemaganda during the 2024 ASAPU workshop in Mukono
“These low salaries of Shs400,000/= for U5 and Shs.560,000)= for U4 secretaries in public service have left us unable to take care of our families, we can’t take our children to relatively good schools and worst of all we can’t even access better loans from financial institutions. We also call for uniform consolidated allowances across all Public Service,” Ssemaganda said.
Ssemaganda appealed to the PS to take it upon herself to ensure that secretaries are promoted as provided for in the Public Service standing orders.
“A number of our members have upraded to the level of Masters Degree but they are not promoted; the Ministry should make sure that secretaries that have worked for more than three years are promoted as it is in the standing orders after subjecting them to interviews,” Ssemaganda noted.
Ssemaganda urged the public to always recruit trained secretaries and administrators to avoid unnecessary mishandling of their offices adding that these professionals know how to deal with whichever administrative challenges that may arise at the work place.
“In a Special way, we thank our respective employers for their financial support which enable us to participate in ASAPU activities like workshops and AGMs,” Ssemaganda noted.