It’s now five days since the Prosecutors went on strike over their salary. Their action brought business in the usually busy Courts to a standstill. Key among the reasons for their industrial action was their demand for more pay. The Prosecutors met with the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs KahindaOtafiire to discuss their grievances. Otafiire told the Prosecutors that the government was working on resolving their concerns. “We know the problems you go through, we know the challenges you face, we are also aware of your security concerns.” Said the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs. He assured them that he had tabled their requests to the relevant government official for consideration. “In the mediate, we agreed that sections of taxations, we should go for a waiver, we remove your taxes and that we have agreed. We are coming to, we are bringing it to the Parliament to approve the tax waiver.”

However, he said that the government currently had financial constraints. “As you can see there is a financial challenge and a financial challenge which must be, in other words, it can’t be addressed but can only be addressed in a well thought out manner and we are going to do that.” The Prosecutors would have to wait for three months before their salaries are increased. “If we are to actualize what we have promised, we have to raise a supplementary budget and the supplementary budget depends on the veins the Ministry of Finance can find to raise revenue and that cannot take less than three months.”

Many of them had reservations about the Minister’s commitment. “When should this government stop acting on emergencies?” “It is my humble prayer that you pronounce it here way; that people should not be recruited until when all of us have been promoted to ...” “Honorable Minister we request that you tell the gathering here whether we are not going less than 90 days or we are going by within 90 days.” They decided to vote to choose the course of action to take. “The members overwhelmingly voted to suspend the strike for 90 days as requested by the government in order to fulfill their part of the bargain. And of course the numbers; we had 171 who voted in favor of suspending.” Said, Baxter Bakibinga – President, Uganda Association of Prosecutors. The Prosecutors urged the Minister to keep his word.