In his statement, Muruli told parliament that there has been a notable increase in the pay of Public Officers over the years and that Cabinet considered prioritizing the enhancement of scientists including science teachers in the financial year 2022/2023.
Parliament is expected to discuss a motion later today on the education sector and come up with specific resolutions on the pay of teachers.
On Wednesday, the speaker, Anita Among tasked five legislators including the Education Committee
Chairperson, John Twesigye Ntamuhiira, the Public Service Committee
Chairperson, Godfrey Onzima, Erute South MP, Jonathan Odur, Shadow Minister of
Education, Brenda Nabukenya, and Workers representative, Agnes Kunihira to draft and present a motion and resolutions to the house for consideration.
She issued the directive following an extensive debate on a statement delivered by the Minister of
Public Service, Muruli Mukasa regarding the salary enhancement for science
teachers and the industrial action by the Uganda National Teachers Union –UNATU.
//Cue in: “and the fact…
Cue out:…adopt the resolutions.”//
In his statement, Muruli told parliament that there has been notable increase in the
pay of Public Officers over the years and that Cabinet considered prioritizing
the enhancement of scientists including science teachers in the financial year
2022/2023.
“The scientists are crucial and needed immediately
in supporting agriculture, industry, information and communications technology
(ICT) and infrastructural development. It is those sectors, as they expand, that
will give us the money (in form of taxes) that will enable us to cover more
priorities including paying all the Public Servants better,” the Minister said.
Muruli said that government through the Office of
the Vice President, Prime Minister, Ministries of Public Service and Education
and Sports has and continues to hold a number of engagements with key
stakeholders in order to resolve the issues raised by the Uganda National
Teachers Union (UNATU).
He added that government is committed to
implementing the pay plan approved by Cabinet in 2017, within the
medium term, concerning all teachers including primary school teachers and
employees in the entire Public Service.
//Cue in: “government continues to…
Cue out:…and long term.”//
However, the Shadow Minister of Education, Brenda
Nabukenya, said that the move to treat workers of the same level such as teachers
of a Senior 5 class differently is in total contravention of Articles 21 and 40 (2)
of the Constitution, which provide for equity amongst Ugandans who are providing
similar services.
“The Minister's Statement is full
of Government's wish to transform the country through science against
humanities. This is being made without evidence from anywhere in the World,”
said the Luwero Woman MP.
Nabukenya recommended the fast-tracking of the establishment of the Salaries Review Commission to streamline
earnings for all public officers. She also recommended that government respects
the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that was signed with the different
workers bodies in 2018 and commit resources to fulfill the promises made there under.
//Cue in: “the Minister should…
Cue out:…discipline including
humanities.”//
Cecilia Ogwal, the Dokolo Woman MP asked the
Minister to provide parliament with a clear action plan by government regarding
concerns of teachers. Stephen Kangwagye, the Bukanga County also expressed
concern about the discriminatory pay rise in the education sector.
//Cue in: “to me, am…
Cue out:…benefit like others.”//
Agnes Kunihira, Workers Representative said that she
was part of the negotiating team with UNATU and government. She told parliament
that the Minister’s statement bares no fresh plan by the government and demanded
that teachers are treated equally by government.
//Cue in: “the Minister has…
Cue out:…do they survive?”//
On Monday, teachers
under the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) called off their strike that
started on June 15th, 2022 to compel the government to enhance their salaries with equity across the board. The strike resulted from the government's decision
to increase the pay for science teachers nearly by 300 percent in disregard of
their colleagues in arts and humanities.
The increment saw the government increase the pay
for graduate and grade V science teachers to 4 million Shilling and 3 million
Shillings up from 1.1 million Shillings and 796,000 Shillings
respectively. During negotiations, teachers proposed that the
government should either provide an additional budget to increase the salary of
art teachers or, for the sake of justice, split the available wage bill of 95
billion shillings among all teachers.
The wage bill was set aside to
enhance the salaries of science teachers and if equally shared among the
169,000 teachers on the payroll, each would get a pay raise of Shillings 46,800. Following a meeting between UNATU leaders and
President Yoweri Museveni at Kololo Independence Grounds on Monday, the
teachers resolved to call off their strike. During the meeting, President
Museveni told teachers that the government has already provided a position on
their demands and it will not reverse it.
"We have provided a position as government
and pledged to competitively remunerate workers guided by a science-led
strategy, this does not mean we have forgotten others, but we are choosing to
prioritize the few and others can come later," the President said.
"We must finish one problem at a time."
Museveni disagreed with the idea of sharing the
available funds, saying that the argument doesn’t hold any sense. "The Arts teachers insist that we should use
the available resources to improve salaries across the board, whilst this is
possible, it does not solve the salary issue. It is okumemerera (sprinkling),
where everyone will get a little and then next year everyone
strikes," Museveni said.
