17^th December 2019, Entebbe; National Staff working for the United Nations can now have their salaries split and paid to both their local bank and the United Nations Federal Credit Union (UNFCU). This was announced to the staff of Regional Service Centre Entebbe (RSCE) by Chief RSCE, Paulin Djomo at a townhall meeting for all national staff held at the Kofi Annan Hall.

The news of this development was greeted with enthusiastic cheer as this was an issue that the national staff had been advocating for for a while.

Chief RSCE informed the staff that the move was only delayed because of several factors that he pointed out as exchange rates contributing to either loss or gain in contribution, local regulations in some countries prohibiting nationals from earning in foreign currency and speculation on the forex by staff.

He however pointed out that this was a global decision and all UN staff could now portion part of their salary to their US Dollars. Staff interested in the split pay will be required to open accounts with UNFCU and then fill forms requesting for the split. Staff were advised to quote amount to be transferred as opposed to percentage. Staff with existing accounts were asked to hand in filled forms by 2^nd January if the split is to be effected for their January salary.

Staff were cautioned that their pay would still be in the local currency and so the exchange rate of the day would apply to their transfers into their UNFCU accounts.

The Chief RSCE, Mr. Djomo also took the opportunity to announce an increment in staff salaries for the new year. He Told staff that though the increment would be applied immediately, they would notice it at the end of January as it still had to be entered into the system at Headquarters.

He thanked the staff for the hard work they have put in in the last year and he attributes the performance of the RSCE to the hard work from all the staff.

“At the start of the year, I asked you to ensure the gains we have had are not less. Keep working hard ensuring we continue to have the privilege to serve our client Missions.  This is why we are receiving more requests for support from more entities and our KPIs are achieved. We are receiving less and less complaints from clients which indicates their happiness with the service we provide. He remarked

At the same meeting. The President of the National Staff Association (NASA), Mr. Yusuf Kaggwa thanked the Chief RSCE for his involvement in both helping national staff get acceptance into UNFCU and for the support to the union in the surveys done to reach the decision on staff increment.

He also informed the staff NASA now has an operational bank account and they would be approaching staff for their annual contributions to the Union.