By Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Norbert Mao, has called on Parliament’s Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee to consider increasing the salaries of State Attorneys and exempting them from income tax, citing their critical role in defending government interests in court and saving taxpayers trillions of shillings.
Appearing before the Committee to present the Ministry’s 2025/26 Ministerial Policy Statement, Mao emphasized that while State Attorneys in the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) enjoy income tax exemptions and better pay, their counterparts in the Attorney General’s Chambers who shoulder the burden of defending the government in complex civil litigation remain underpaid and taxed.
“This is a major victory because of the hard work of the Attorney General’s chambers. Our attorneys won cases worth Shs2.783 trillion in the 2023/24 financial year alone—that’s almost the equivalent of three financial years of the Parish Development Model (PDM),” Mao told the Committee. “Yet, unlike their counterparts in the DPP, our attorneys still pay income tax and receive lower pay. This must change if we are to retain and motivate top legal talent in government service.”
Mao also delivered a report on government litigation performance, which revealed that between July 2024 and April 2025, the Attorney General, Kiryowa Kiwanuka, won 285 cases, saving Ugandan taxpayers Shs379.9 billion. This, however, was a drop compared to 311 cases won in the previous financial year, which saved the government a staggering Shs2.784 trillion. During that same period, 107 cases worth Shs173 billion were lost.
Kibaale County MP Richard Oseku questioned the incomplete reporting of case outcomes. He noted that in 2023/24, the Attorney General represented the government in 6,878 cases, yet only 418 cases 311 of them victories were accounted for in the Minister’s presentation. Oseku demanded full transparency and a breakdown of the remaining cases.
