Hon. Opio
The Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Henry Musasizi says that public servants working at districts, cities and town councils are not entitled to an allowance even when they are stationed in area designated as hard-to-reach.
Musasizi stated that the allowance is intended for public officers deployed in remote and underserved areas where government has experienced persistent difficulties in attracting and retaining skilled personnel.
“Payment of hardship allowances excludes civil servants working at district headquarters, in cities and town Councils of the designated local governments,” Musasizi said.
In a statement presented to Parliament on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, he clarified that the allowance is calculated at 30 per cent of the approved salary structure under the 2017/2018 financial year rather than the beneficiary’s current salary.
Government introduced the hardship allowance under the Public Service Reform Programme to address staffing shortages in areas affected by geographical isolation, insecurity, poor infrastructure and limited access to essential social services. The programme took effect on 01 July 2010 initially covering 24 designated local governments.
Members of Parliament queried the criteria used to determine areas that qualify for the allowance arguing that some communities face difficult living and working conditions despite being located in districts that are not classified as hard-to-reach.
Rubanda West MP, Hon. Bruce Balaba cited Kabale District which is off the list but has hard to reach which is a modern district but has areas where students and teachers must use canoes over Lake Bunyonyi to access schools and many of them end up dying,” said Balaba.
Bushenyi District Woman MP, Hon. Annet Katusiime raised similar concerns about Ruhumuro Sub-county where she said poor accessibility has discouraged public servants from accepting deployments.
Hon. Alfred Edakasi (NRM, Kaberamaido County) also said communities on peninsulas in Kaberamaido have teachers travelling by boat to reach schools but do not benefit from the allowance.
Musasizi undertook to present the MPs’ concerns to Cabinet for consideration.
The minister also addressed concerns raised by Kole North MP, Hon. Samuel Opio about the taxation of allowances paid to local government councillors.
Opio said that the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) imposes a 30 per cent charge as Pay as You Earn on councilors including those whose only source of income is the allowances.
He argued that many councilors depend entirely on these payments for their livelihood and should therefore, be exempted from the tax.
Opio also questioned the practice of leaving chief administrative officers to determine which councilors should be taxed, saying it has resulted in inconsistent deductions across local governments.
Musasizi clarified that councilors whose only source of income is their allowances should not be subjected to the tax, describing the reported blanket deductions as an error.
“The law requires that a councilor who has no other source of income and receives only allowances, should be exempted. If one has more sources of income such as rental income, income from other businesses, that is considered as secondary employment and us charged,” said Musasizi.
He assured Parliament that the ministry will engage URA and local governments to address the inconsistencies and ensure that the tax provisions are properly understood and implemented-Ug. Parliament. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
