The government of Uganda is facing an additional financial burden of at least Ush60 million ($16,751) annually to cater for the expanded Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme that was approved by the Ministry of Finance.

The Finance ministry remits 10 percent of an employee’s gross salary to the scheme, as employer contributions, and employees contribute five per cent of their gross salary. An expansion in the scheme’s membership directly leads to an increase in government’s costs in the short term. However, the ministry has accumulated arrears against the pension scheme in recent years.

While the overall number of contract and project staff deployed at Makerere University could not be verified, university sources claim the least paid contract employee earns a gross salary of Ush500,000 ($139.6) per month. The annual employer contribution due from government of Ush600,000 ($168) would be paid for the same employee. This would translate into an annual pension bill of Ush60 million ($16,751) for every 100 new but least paid employees added to the Makerere University Retirement Benefits Scheme (Murbs) register.

The latest data shows that the arrears accumulated by the Finance ministry against the university pension scheme from 2015 to 2020/2021 are Ush23.9 billion ($6.67 million), while Ush10 billion ($2.8 million) has since been recovered from the Treasury through court processes.

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