Troubled retailer Nakumatt has informed its workers that they will henceforth get paid weekly wages instead of earning monthly salaries, signaling a deepening of a cash crisis that began six months ago.
The move comes after the supermarket announced the closure of three outlets in Uganda as it fights bruising battles with suppliers and creditors, some of who want to auction its property to recover debts.
Nakumatt has in the past three months been gripped by serious stock outs as suppliers held on to their wares over non-payment of their dues.
“The management has reviewed salary payment plans with the intention of ensuring that every employee gets a percentage of his salary every week for a total of three weeks in a month. This is to ensure uniformity and consistency in the payment of salaries,” Nakumatt managing director Atul Shah said in the memo.
Nakumatt has not paid some of its employees since April, and has not remitted some statutory deductions, including pension cash even as it struggles to keep nervous creditors at bay.
-The Daily Nation
