🔊 Museveni, Speaker Among to discuss boosting former MPs pension

Speaker of Parliament Anita Annet Among has pledged to lobby for shillings six billion to boost pension earnings for former Members of Parliament who served the country up to 2011.

Among pledged through finance state minister Henry Musasizi, at the 14th annual general meeting of the Parliamentary Pensions Scheme (PPS) on February 27, 2026, in Kampala.

Addressing members, the Rubanda East lawmaker disclosed that the development was among the instructions Speaker Among had conveyed to him in a phone call.

“The category which retired in 2011, the actuarial figure has been done and it is shillings six billion. Speaker says, this should be included in the priorities she, together with us, Finance, are going to discuss with the President next week,” Musasizi.

“We just have to pray that Mzee gives us a go-ahead to include it in the budget for financial year 2026/27. Shillings six billion can be accommodated; it is not something big,” he added.

Ex-MPs speak out

Musasizi’s commitment was provoked by a sharp rebuke from former Serere Woman MP and Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) stalwart Alice Asianut Alaso earlier, who had uncompromisingly stated that the whole matter had become a boring swansong.

“As you prepare to come (address the meeting) think about those old colleagues of ours. Next time, you might be the very one they will send here again to represent the Speaker, and we don’t want to walk out on you,” Alaso said.
 
Arguing that it is deeply disheartening to see gallant patriots who once served this country in dire conditions. Alaso added that the sooner Speaker Among prioritises their issues, the better.

“It is not that we don’t like you representing the Speaker in the meeting. Now that it has become very hard to find the Speaker, please tell the Right Honourable, there are some votes, now you have Honourable Ruhindi (Nakawa East), please let her come and talk to us also in the next one. So that she hears from this group. We have not seen the Honourable Speaker since the last five years,” she urged.

Raw deal

Present in the meeting was former Oyam North MP Ben Wacha, who disclosed that despite being the brain of the Parliamentary Pension Scheme (Amendment) bill, many like him who exited the house after the 2011 elections were left out.  

“This issue, called the Pension Act when it was still Pension Bill was my baby. I am the one who thought about it, drafted it and then later on it was adopted by the Parliamentary Commission where I was a member. But madam Chair, I retired in 2011. That therefore means, I am one of those people who are receiving a miserable pension because I retired before the salaries were enhanced,” he explained.

“The amount of money that I am receiving out of this Pension Act is shillings one million, and we have been saying it is going to be enhanced. Can I ask when it is going to be enhanced?” Wacha posed.

Musasizi, former AG disagree over data

However, comments by Musasizi that he was constrained from factoring in MPs who joined Parliament after 2011 due to a lack of data irked former Attorney General (AG) Fred Ruhindi.

Considering that Parliamentary Alumni of Uganda (PAU), to which Ruhindi belongs, has, since its formation in 2019, done adequate research on the matter, which is available if Musasizi desires.  

PAU chaired by former Kanungu Woman MP Jacqueline Kyatuheire, originally comprised 1,000 former lawmakers, who served from the first to tenth parliament, although the number has been declining due to deaths. 

“Then, this other category, I am constrained because I don’t know how many they are. I don’t know how much they need. Honorable Alaso, I think here, let’s propose that some work be done. Even when we are going to the President, we need to go to him when we know exactly what we are asking for,” Musasizi stated.  

“The Parliamentary Alumni has got leadership; chairperson is honourable Jacqueline Kyatuheire. We have an executive; there is a report with specifics. Even if you wanted us to share with you this information by the close of the day today, we shall share it with you. So, it is not a question of whether we miss data or information, no. We have the report, and we can share it with you,” Ruhindi responded.

Adding that not so long ago, the body even went the extra mile by calling for an amendment of the Parliamentary Pensions Act to address all and sundry.

“We even actually put a figure, a possible figure, for every member. It is not a lot of money. What I know is some of that money is some people’s breakfast in this Government. Yeah, I am being frank,” he argued.

“We even made a recommendation, which let us start with health insurance for every member we calculated and even got quotations from some service providers. We realised that actually to cover everybody, we could need about Sh3.5 billion. Tell me how that could be a difficult amount of money to take care of our people,” he cited.

Source of funds

Speaking earlier on, Ruhindi had stated that it would be disingenuous of the authorities to use the “scarce resources” argument, more so, when the country is about to start reaping revenues from oil and gas production.

“That money if it is put in the social services of our people, the education sector, health sector, people’s welfare, the money is enough, where is the problem?” he inquired.

Alternative pension estimate

During one such PAU engagement at Imperial Royale on May 3, 2024, which New Vision covered, former Butambala County lawmaker Al-Hajj Ibrahim Lubega Kaddunabbi used a projected figure of 1,142 MPs to calculate how much each former MP would receive.

At the time, they were seeking a monthly pension ranging between thirty and fifty per cent of the current salary of a sitting member of Parliament.

“Now their (incumbent MPs) salary is shillings 11.7m, if we are to look at 30 per cent, it would mean that each member of parliament could earn shillings 3.51 million. Because, we are using a figure of 1,142 (former MPs), that would mean that every month it would make a charge of shillings four billion. For 12 months, it would mean about shillings 48 billion,” he explained.   

Kaddunabbi added that “for those who are earning from the other contributory scheme, we can net it from those figures and that would reduce, maybe it can be shillings 40 billion per year to cater for 1,142 former leaders.”

On the other hand, at a rate of fifty per cent, he said former MPs shall collectively earn shillings 6.680 billion as monthly pension.

Amelia committee, Tayebwa meeting

This is not the first time the plight of MPs has come to light. On February 14, 2023, a PPS interest negotiation team was established, chaired by Mawokota South elect and former Trade Minister Amelia Kyambadde.

The team comprised Margret Kiboijana, Dr. Richard Nduhuura, Aston Kajara, Prof. Ogenga Latigo, Fred Jachan Omach, James Kakooza and Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere. Its terms of reference were to lobby for a pension increment and to identify a source to provide medical coverage for current scheme beneficiaries.

The team undertook several actions, including internal meetings among members and a separate meeting with the CEO, Nightingale Mirembe Ssenoga, on August 8, 2023. They later met with Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa, who was recommended by Among and several resolutions were agreed upon.

“The second one, the meeting noted that pension should be based on the current salary of sitting members of parliament and staff of the parliamentary commission. Implying that Government contributions be based on current pay of sitting members of parliament and staff,”

“The meeting under the Speaker resolved that the scheme works out six per cent annual increment for pensioners instead of the four percent and report back to the office of the Speaker within four weeks. And report and advise the Speaker on how similar schemes operate in relation to pension increases,”

“Of course, I feel some of us got busy, some of us went back into politics and we didn’t continue. But we feel we can continue from here. We feel that ministry of finance, fortunately, is the chief guest, could come in at this juncture and guide   
Pending Sh100M Presidential pledge

That said, the other issue former lawmakers such as Bulamogi MP Kenneth Lubogo want is the fast tracking of shillings 100 million each former lawmaker was promised by President Yoweri Museveni at an awards ceremony at Serena Hotel in 2016.

“I feel like this issue is being whittled away; we are washing it down. I believe it is among the issues that you should concern yourself to discuss when you meet the President next time. It should be among the priorities to consider. Members are dying, we are always getting reports of members who are departing and that kind of stuff and the pledge is pending for years. I think you need to take it up,” Lubogo noted.

Surprisingly, at the last AGM of the Parliamentary Alumni Association (PAU) on June 14, 2025, which took place in Parliament’s conference hall, State Minister for Privatisation and Investment Evelyn Anite promised the same in vain.

“I give you assurance and confidence that now that the President has invited me in your business, which becomes our business as an alumnus. I shall ensure two things. One, your message of Akasiimo of Sh100m of all of you to be delivered,” Anite promised.

“The letter that the President directing me to come and represent him actually was copied to the state house comptroller. However, she mentioned to me that she needed a written directive with an exact amount of money. So, I pledge that tomorrow (Sunday, June 15) I will be interacting with the President and I will bring that to his attention such that the state house comptroller would be able to pay your money,” Anite further assured.

What they say

Hajjat Aisha Kabanda (Butambala Woman MP, member PPS Board of trustees). Issues of the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth parliaments up to the sixth parliament are not issues that can be within the mandate of the Scheme because those persons are not actually members of the scheme. But they are issues for Parliament and Government. Government should be able to take care of its people, those who have left Parliament and the President also would be happy to find people who worked with them previously in better condition….But the scheme as a scheme as of now, we are concerned of people who retired from Parliament in 2011. That’s the group of people we are advocating for Sh6 billion to be able to boost their pension.

Maurice Kibalya (Bugabula South); At a time of the eleventh parliament, school fees were around shillings 600,000, now it is around shillings four million. When you are down there, and they say this one is a pensioner of parliament, the expectation is that my pension earnings are meaningful. When a teacher retires at a salary of around shillings 800,000 or 900,000, after becoming a pensioner, that teacher will be earning around shillings 400,000 at least, more than a third of his or her former salary.

Kindly migrate from the other area of calculating the shillings three million for my pension per month, so that we go to about something Sh10 million and above. The tuition where I have three or five kids to pay for, at least let the pension be in position to pay for at least two or three kids.