By Mulengera Reporters
All isn’t well at the Matuga-based DEI Pharma, a multi-billion pharmaceutical manufacturing enterprise based at Matugga along Kampala-Bombo Road.
The company, which is meant to manufacture pharmaceutical products for both the local market and for export purposes, has about 100 employees.
These earn between Shs300,000 for the lowest category (called packaging staff), and Shs20m for the highest paid expatriates from jurisdictions like India. The irony is that since January, many of these haven’t been paid even a penny and life is increasingly hard for each one of them.
February and March salaries are yet to be paid, a situation which has condemned many employees to live destitute life, including during the just-ended Easter holiday when they had to take out loans from petty money lenders to be able to feed their families.
Things have become so bad to the extent that banks like DFCU are now regretting ever advancing salary loans to DEI employees because the irregular salary payments have made recovery of such money hard and very uncertain.
Salary loan recovery is dependent on payment of employees’ monthly remuneration. The banks end up regretting once such monthly recoveries don’t happen in a predictable manner as ought to be the case.
Insurance companies like Sanlam and Prudential have many times contacted Ms Sylivia Kachope, the head HR at DEI, threatening to cancel the medical insurance arrangements for staff. This has exposed employees to vulnerability and destitution in case they or their immediate family fall sick.
Many staff have had to mortgage their vehicles or sell off their plots of land, which they had acquired in the Matugga area, at throw away prices in order to be able to meet medical bills, for the unfortunate ones whose wives have had to undergo surgery during child birth.
Some of the employees have concluded that there is no hope of things at DEI ever getting better and have remedially opted to look for jobs elsewhere. Many of them are highly educated with graduate qualifications and aren’t prepared to continue with this abusive, exploitative situation.
Another group recently confided in some vocal MPs and key figures at the Finance Ministry seeking for their intervention, since it was through these that the recapitalization grant of Shs700bn from government was channeled to DEI.
One top management member at DEI told this news website that much as the President has personally been very supportive and well-intentioned, there are lots of saboteurs undermining DEI Pharma investor Prof Mathias Magoola both at the Finance Ministry/UDC and Parliament itself.
“Our only hope is for the things to get better when, after July, Mzee names a new Cabinet and genuinely more supportive Ministers take charge,” said one of the top echelons’ insiders at DEI.
“The situation is so bad to the extent that even some of the suppliers have arrears and will soon stop supplying. Examples include the company which supplies food for staff. They are already picketing by supplying less food these days and its moreover of very poor quality. Clearly, they are already protesting over delayed payments because many of their invoices remain uncashed. They are tired of endless promises.”
This news website’s efforts to get official comment from the company remained futile as at publication time. Other concerned insiders suggested that Parliament picks interest in scrutinizing the extent of corporate governance, quality of management and the extent of alleged nepotism at the company.
Some demanded that Dr. Mathias Magoola becomes more involved in the daily running of the company as opposed to over delegating to subordinates who clearly don’t measure up to the task at hand.
That at the Kamuli-based project where he has a thriving starch-making factory, things are running much more smoothly and the operation there seems better resourced (than at Matugga) because of the fact that Dr. Magoola is more involved in the making of key decisions there.
