Lira, Uganda | A section of youth from Lira City and surrounding regions have raised complaints over unpaid and partially paid allowances following their involvement in data entry and election monitoring exercises organized by the Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) earlier this month.
The youths, who were engaged in entering UPC party members’ data into a digital register, say they worked long hours at the residence of the late Dr. Apollo Milton Obote in Senior Quarters, Lira City, with little or no pay for their efforts.
One of the affected individuals, Opio Anthony, said he began work on Friday, 6 June 2025, and worked for six days.
He stated that he only received UGX 50,000, which he believed was payment for two days, and noted that the remaining four days were still unpaid.
He expressed frustration, saying the assignment had wasted his time, as he had other obligations that could have earned him income.
Another participant, who requested anonymity, claimed to have completed over 3,000 entries within a week.
He said he had expected over UGX 200,000 for the work done but received less than half.
He described it as deeply disappointing to leave home early, work the entire day, and be compensated merely with food and tea.
Initially, organizers had promised each worker UGX 30,000 per day. However, the rate was later reduced to UGX 20,000.
The final arrangement, according to several of the workers, was a piece rate of UGX 50 per entry for those working during the day, and UGX 75 per entry for those working at night.
Entrants were tasked with a minimum of 500 entries daily, working from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Some were paid in full, and others received partial sums, while several are yet to receive anything.
The data entry exercise included participants from Lango, Acholi, Teso, Kumam, and Karamoja sub-regions.
However, reports indicate that while those from outside Lango received significant support, including paid accommodation in guest houses and daily transportation in a Toyota Noah to and from the work location, locals from Lira City did not receive similar facilitation.
Tensions deepened a week ago when many of the same individuals were deployed to oversee UPC’s internal structure elections across the nine districts and one city in the Lango Sub-region, held on 12 June 2025.
The election involved selecting party president and chairpersons at the village level.
Some of the monitors said they faced hostility in the field, including threats of violence from angry party members whose names weren’t in the party register.
Despite these risks, several were paid only UGX 20,000 for the day, while others were not compensated at all.
Efforts by our reporter to contact the official reportedly in charge of the data entry team, Atim Brenda Kinyera, National UPC Party Chairperson, were unsuccessful.
Her phone remained unreachable despite repeated calls over a two-day period.
The affected youth are now calling on UPC leadership to urgently intervene and resolve the matter.
They allege that they were exploited, misled, and abandoned after committing their time and energy to the party’s administrative and electoral processes.
They are demanding full payment for their services, along with a formal apology for the mistreatment and lack of coordination.
Many say this experience has left them disillusioned with the party’s internal operations and are warning that continued silence could damage the UPC’s credibility among young supporters ahead of future political engagements.