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How Govt plans to fix Makerere
Lecturers have good case - Nsibambi
They can’t dare sack us - MUK dons
2 - year contracts proposed
By our staff writers
WEEKLY OBSERVER, November 16, 2006
Hard-line elements in the NRM are proposing drastic measures to fix the problem
at Makerere University once and for all. The Weekly Observer has learnt that
all lecturers could be asked to re-apply, which will give the government an
opportunity to weed out undesired individuals. AccordingFether it would be
adopted.
This is but one of the proposals being advanced to “deal with” the lecturers
who refused to return to work, even after President Museveni “begged” them,
forcing the university to be closed.
A related proposal has been mooted to recruit lecturers on two-year contracts.
A senior official at Makerere University said the issue of contracts has been
suggested by some members of a Visitation Committee set up earlier by President
Museveni, to look into critical issues at the university. The official said the
committee was scheduled to submit its report by the end of this month.
However, a senior member of the Visitation Committee told The Weekly Observer
that he was not aware of the proposal. “I don’t know if that idea has been
mooted because we were still in the middle of it all…” the member said, before
asking not to be quoted.
Asked if he thought the idea could work, the official said: “it depends on the
country and the environment. It has disadvantages and disadvantages.”
He explained that while such a system would make lecturers insecure, it would
encourage them to work harder in order to keep their jobs.
Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, the Chancellor of the university, told The
Weekly Observer that sacking lecturers would not solve the crisis.
“We can’t take such a rigid position,” Nsibambi said. “It will be very unwise.
By the way, [lecturers] have a good case; even His Excellency admitted. The
problem is scarcity of resources. We shall continue negotiating.”
Nsibambi said the lecturers’ demands would be met when money is available,
adding: “we have even discovered oil.”
On Tuesday, Makerere University management met the “Committee of Deans” on the
way forward and the meeting made what MUASA boss, Dr. Augustus Nuwagaba, called
“some good resolutions”. Vice Chancellor, Prof. Livingstone Luboobi, said the
resolutions were due to be put to MUASA leaders at a meeting yesterday, but he
refused to discuss the resolutions.
You can’t sack us
The lecturers have laughed off what they see as attempts to divide and
intimidate them.
“Nobody can dare sack us,” MUASA vice chairman, Dr. Baker Nyakaana told last
Friday’s meeting at the Medical School.
“You cannot just pick academicians from the streets. We are a force of 1061
brains and remember we are the top brains of this nation called Uganda. They
can pick Nyakaana and sack him because he is making a lot of noise for the
rest. But remember if they sack us, immediately they have to pay our terminal
benefits, which they don’t have.”
Even after the university sent the students home, and locked the lecturers out
of their offices, they have remained adamant. “We shall not give up until
government accepts our demands,” Nuwagaba reiterated this week.
18-year struggle
MUASA’s push for better pay dates back to 1988, when lecturers demanded what
they called a living wage. According to reports, lecturers’ salaries then
averaged 10 dollars per month, after the devaluation of the Uganda Shilling in
1987. Having failed to get their demands, the dons put down their tools on May
2, 1989. Two weeks later, government issued an either-teach-or-quit directive,
before the two groups reached a compromise.
Although salaries have risen since, they never reached the desired ‘living
wage’. Hence there were strikes in 1990, 1994, 1996 and 2004, before the latest
stand off.
But the one of 2004 was significant. The lecturers only ended their strike
after Museveni met them at the International Conference Centre on April 13,
2004 and made concrete promises.
In a letter to MUASA later that day, Chancellor Nsibambi said Museveni pledged
to move academic staff “to a more comfortable position”. This was to be
effected during the financial year 2004/05 or 2005/06, which ended in June this
year. “This struggle has been going on since 1988; the difference now is that
people have run out of patience,” Nuwagaba said. Earlier, his deputy, Dr.
Nyakaana, had said as much: “If we have been patient for 18 years, are we
really not patriotic?”
Private students’ cash
Besides the clamour of unkept promises, Makerere dons want government to pay
them the same as it pays lecturers in other public universities.
Currently, a professor at Mbarara gets Shs 2.68m per month from government
while that of Gulu earns Shs 2.44m. On the other hand, government gives a
Makerere professor Shs 1.45m. It is on this that Makerere University Council,
using money from private students, adds Shs 1.1m to make a gross salary of just
over 2.56m.
MUASA says that under their 2004 agreement with Museveni, “government was to
pay” a professor a basic monthly pay of Shs 2.8m. And this is where the
conflict begins.
First, while the dons say Museveni promised them Shs 2.8m excluding allowances
like housing, medical, transport, etc., government has proceeded to prepare a
gross package of Shs 2.8m (including allowances).
The other conflict is over money paid by the majority private students. MUASA
understood the agreement to mean that its professors would get the Shs 2.8m
from government so that the top-up from the council would give them a pre-tax
total of Shs 3.9m.
Actually, in his April 13, 2004 letter, Nsibambi seems to agree, suggesting
that the present arrangement is temporary: “He [Museveni] advised MUASA to
either accept the interim package offered by the University Council or wait for
Government’s comprehensive package,” Nsibambi wrote.
But now Museveni says that University Council money is also government money.
He wants the private students to help government pay its workers. The lecturers
are saying ‘no sir’.
Unequal benefits
Faced with persistent budgetary shortfalls, the University Council started
admitting private students so as to ‘top-up’ the inadequate funding provided by
government.
This has meant that many lecturers in Arts-based courses teach huge numbers of
students but for a fairly higher pay. So when government agrees to pay a
university professor a living wage of Shs 2.8m, MUASA insists they still need
the top-up because it is tied to the huge numbers which don’t exist at Gulu or
Mbarara universities.
MUASA also cries foul on their retirement benefits. Because these are
calculated based on pay from government coffers, MUASA says a Makerere
professor, currently getting Shs 1.45m from government, would get a smaller
retirement package than say one in Gulu (Shs 2.44m) or Mbarara (Shs 2.68m).
Comparison
MUASA’s demands pale in comparison with basic university salaries across the
region. In 2003, the Association of Commonwealth Universities found that a
professor in the University of Namibia earns a basic pay of $2,771 (Shs 5.1m)
while one in the University of Botswana earns $2,450 (Shs 4.5m).
In East Africa, a professor at the University of Nairobi earns $2,400 (Shs
4.4m) while the one at Dar-es-Salaam University earns a basic salary of $1,104
(Shs 2m).
This makes the Uganda professor’s Shs 1.45m currently the lowest in the region.
A document titled ‘Outstanding Issues on Enhancement of Basic Salary of
Academic Staff of Public Universities’, authored by Dr. Nuwagaba, shows that
lecturers fare badly even when compared to other civil servants.
A URA Commissioner, for instance, earns more than Shs 10m while top executives
in government institutions like NAADS and UBOS earn over Shs 5m. Many of these
people have either equal or lower qualifications than a Makerere professor.
Calculating the cost
According to what MUASA now calls the “unkept” promise, a professor was to earn
a basic salary Shs 2.8m up from Shs 1.4m, with other categories following
below. But If Makerere’s 47 professors, 76 associate professors, 210 senior
lecturers, 423 lecturers, 196 assistant lecturers and 142 teaching assistants
got their way, their total monthly wage bill would be Shs 1.8bn.
That means per year, the government would spend about Shs 21.6bn on lecturers’
salaries – almost the same amount MPs want to spend on new vehicles for
themselves.
According to Nuwagaba, the total cost of increasing the basic salaries of all
public university lecturers, agreed in 2004, was Shs 28.73bn. Government has
since paid Shs 12.04 billion, leaving a balance of Shs 16.69bn, of which 10.7bn
would go to Makerere. The Ministry of Finance says it does not have that money.
Lecturers argue that the money is there, only the commitment is lacking.
Now or never
MUASA argues that if they don’t get their increments now now, then it might
take at least seven years before their issue returns to the table. They base
this argument on government’s emerging spending priorities and trends.
Presidential assistant Moses Byaruhanga is quoted as having told a radio
talk-show last week that the lecturers’ demands could not be met in 2004
because government was preparing for the 2006 elections. Using that, MUASA
reasons that in 2009 and 2010, government will prioritise the 2011 elections.
President Museveni has mentioned next year’s Commonwealth meeting (CHOGM), the
energy crisis and the Universal Post-Primary Education and Training (UPPET) as
having taken priority.
“Come 2007/08 budget, CHOGM will take priority because it will be in November
and the budget is in June. Everybody will be saying that all the money was
spent on CHOGM,” said Nyakaana. “Then come 2008/09, somebody will say, ‘we are
trying to recover from CHOGM and you know we have started this UPPET thing and
we have to maintain’. Then come 2011, it will be preparation for East African
Federation. That is why we are saying it is ‘now or never’.”
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Makerere fees timeline
2004 – 13 April Museveni promises MUASA salary increases that would result into
a professor earning Shs 2.8 as monthly basic pay
October 10, 2006 Finance Minister writes to Education Minister indicating a
salary enhancement to Shs 2.8 monthly gross pay
2006 – October 31 MUASA writes to Chancellor Apolo Nsibambi rejecting Suruma’s
salary enhancement plan saying it is not what was agreed upon in 2004.
Friday Nov. 3 MUASA meets and resolves to stop teaching effective midnight that
day
Mon. 6/11 MUASA leaders meet Nsibambi; refuse to return to work
7/11 Students riot, protesting the lack of lectures. Police unleashes tear gas
and closes roads around the university
8/11 President Museveni meets MUASA leaders at Hotel Africana and urges them to
resume work as a committee studies their problems.
8/11 45 students remanded for participating in strike
9/11 MUASA General Assembly meets at Mulago and rejects Museveni’s appeal
9/11 Government orders Makerere to close, following lecturers’ decision to
continue with strike
10/11 University Council resolves that all lecturers return to work on Monday
November 13
10/11 Court releases the jailed students on bail, without following the
sureties formality
11/11 Lecturers meeting at Mulago reject Council’s resolution: No lectures
without their demands being met.
12/11 University Council gives students five hours to vacate the university
campus.
www.ugandaobserver.com/new/news/news200611161.php
a. Are MUK dons justified to go on strike?
b. As freshly minted PhD would where would you choose to teach: MUK, U.
Namibia, U. Botswana, U. Dar es Salaam or U. Nairobi?
c. What is the number one (1) cause of "brain drain"? And number two (2)?
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