EXPOSED: NWSC Boss Mugisha in ‘hot soup’ over corruption, unfair salary scale in bitter staff dossier

KAMPALA, UGANDA: A section of staff members at the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) have a dossier pinning the Managing Director Eng Dr. Silver Mugisha over corruption, unfair salary scales among other grievances.

The dossier which was sent through email copied to several top officials at NWSC, the disgruntled staff who sought anonymity on the sensitive matter are mobilising fellow staff countrywide to expose the dirt inside the Corporation which they claim is filled with mismanagement, favoritism among other unfair practices.

A copy of an email seen by this website says the aggrieved employees claim they’re “sick and tired of the corrupt leadership in NWSC especially when it comes to appointments, confirmation and awarding salary scales, and singularly accused the ED Eng Silver Mugisha of failing to curb the nepotism, sectarianism, and ‘exchange of sex’ for jobs among others.

“We are sick and tired of your corrupt leadership in this corporation and this is the time to rise up as workers and expose your disgusting corrupt ways when it comes to appointments, confirmation and awarding salary scales in this corporation,” reads part of the dossier.

“How can a Manager be at Scale 5 yet he/she is supervising a principal commercial officer at Scale 2? How can a Manager be at scale 4 and he/she has a commercial officer at scale 3? How can a Commercial Officer be at scale 5 and he/ she is supervising a CA that has scale 4? How can a CA with a degree be on scale 7 and he /she is supervising a senior four plumber who is on the same scale like the supervisor?” the employees wondered in a two-paged dossier.

“Are you people so foolish not to realize the anger and bitterness you are breeding amongst us the workers on a daily basis? Or you people think we are so stupid and blind that we don’t know what’s happening in this Corporation,” the disgruntled staff added in a bitter dossier.

The staff also complained how the new staff is being quickly promoted and placed on higher salary scales at the expense of the long-serving employees. “Do you think we are stupid not to see the new staffs who come in and are given high scales yet they have no experience in NWSC work? Our eyes are wide open and we see everything. And we are saying enough is enough. We are going to rise up and become defiant until you align these salary scales.”

The employees are therefore demanding that the corporation puts in place “a standard scale policy where each and every position has a set salary scale” as opposed to the current one which they say is unfair and has made them bitter.

“Let every position have a standard salary scale because these positions come with the same duties and responsibilities. So if two staffs have the same position and the same duties and responsibilities why should one be on scale 5 and another on scale 3?” they wondered.

The staff have also vowed not to rest until this matter has been addressed. They also said they have embarked on an exercise to compile a detailed report on how people in similar positions belong to different salary scales.

“We want to use this report of the different unfair scales in NWSC to [lodge] a complaint to Ministry of Labour and also spread it on social media so that the whole world can know what exactly is happening in national water,” they wrote in their petition.

NWSC Responds

Barely a day after the dossier leaked to the media, NWSC in a statement released by the ED Mugisha dismissed the allegations of discriminatory salaries structure and said all salary scale adjustments are based on prior performance appraisals and exceptional performance.

“We have some new staff that join the corporation and quickly feel a sense of entitlement to promotion, without due consideration of the effort inputs and performance results,” noted the water utility, adding that such behavior was “unacceptable” since “NWSC survival and sustainability depends on strong results-orientation.”