KAMPALA, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- The National Resistance Movement (NRM), Uganda's ruling party, has sacked all employees.

NRM Secretary General Kasule Lumumba made the announcement on Tuesday while addressing the sacked staff, numbering slightly more than 500.

The staffers work both at the party headquarters in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, and at the district level. The NRM has about 132 offices across the country.

"As we check on our policies, so many things are changing. So we also need to change the way we work," Lumumba told the workers.

All the workers were paid all their salary arrears as they wait for their contracts to expire on April 20.

Lumumba said the movement had to fire the workers because the party did not have enough money to pay them.

The NRM receives 8 billion Uganda shillings (2.208 million U.S. dollars) annually from the government to run party activities, but its current monthly payroll stands at 825 million shillings (227,774 dollars).

The NRM's director of legal services, Oscar Kihika, said they had no choice but to terminate the employees' contracts in order to start with a clean slate.

A Feb. 20 copy of the termination letter seen by Xinhua read in part: "This is to notify you that come April 20, 2018, your employment with the National Resistance Movement shall be terminated and this to give you notice of the same."

The employees, however, still have a chance to apply for the same jobs.

According to information made available on the website of Uganda's Parliament, NRM members occupy 294 of the House's 427 seats. President Yoweri Museveni is the party's chairperson.