During the teachers’ strike, children were left on their own in many schools, foreshadowing an undesirable situation where a crucial guiding hand is absent. PHOTO by Faiswal Kasirye.

The government cannot find money, in the current budget to enhance teachers’ salaries by the 100 per cent they demanded. “If the government enhances teachers’ salaries, what about other civil servants; the national cake is small...” These are the default arguments government officials have given in response to the teachers’ demands.
Parliament’s budget committee even took an expensive residential retreat in Entebbe to do some number crunching but in addition to Shs30million added to the deficit column of an already overstretched budget, there was still no money.
An inter-ministerial committee appointed earlier for the same purpose returned the same answer. It leaves three major questions; were the teachers, through the Uganda National Teacher’s Union (Unatu) being unreasonable in their demands? Is the government honestly cash strapped to find money for them or is it being simply insensitive to their plight?
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, Nathan Nandala Mafabi, says the Opposition’s proposal for a 50 per cent enhancement would require some Shs360b and questions if the government can find Shs190b in supplementary allocations to the presidency regardless of whether it is through State House or the Office of the President’s budget, why not for the people entrusted with the future of the country’s children whose demand would require only about an extra half on top of what the President is taking? Was it right for the government, amid cries from across the country to help out the teachers, to insist on the opposite and were the reasons convincing?
Now that the teachers yielded to government’s intimidation and psychological coercion techniques, will the pupils in the different government schools get quality education? “The teachers’ approach of striking was a viable action to express their grievances; they are not like soldiers who are privileged to go to battle well equipped with weapons ready to crush opponents,” says TNS Research International Country Director, Dr Patrick Wakida.
Avalanche fears
The government’s reason not to increase teacher’s salaries by a single percentage, even when Parliament had got about shs50b in irrelevant proposed expenditures in different ministerial policy statements was that the move would set a precedent for other civil servants to rise up in arms asking for higher pay.
But the different civil servants have benefits that teachers do not access; nurses for example are entitled to a lunch allowance and soldiers, policemen and Prisons warders are exempt from taxes, receive a free set of uniform, which they wear almost daily on duty and are provided a free casket and its transport home in case of death. These categories also have some accommodation, however inadequate. “Since the government was able to increase the salaries of other leaders, like RDC’S then it should be able to look at the teachers complaints,” says Mr Wakida.
Out of darkness
“The current economic situation is so harsh, teachers have been so silent in the past not displaying their problems. But since they are now out of the darkness that had blinded them, it would have been good if the government had taken a positive move.”
Critics say the Prime Minister’s threats that government will hire supplementary teachers if the registered ones refused to take the meager pay was a sign of undemocratic and absolute leadership, which should be regretted by the government.
Mr Amama Mbabazi, argued that the impact of the demand of the teachers would translate into about Shs1 trillion for teachers’ salaries only [excluding other public sector workers]. If the government was to pay all public sector workers at the level of the teachers’ demand, most of the government revenue Shs6.5t would be spent on payment of salaries, foregoing the country’s development programmes such as roads, electricity, health , UPE and USE.
The government opposed recommendations made by the opposition of close to savings worth Shs522b, opting instead to present a Shs14b supplementary budget request for State House even before the budget could be passed.
Mr Mathias Mulocho Magino, a veteran educationist and currently the Director of Math at Tripoma Education Consultants, agrees with the government. He says that for the teachers to present a serious case, the budget of the teachers’ salary should have started at the grass roots so that it could be included in the national budget. “This exclusion makes it difficult to make an immediate increase on demand,” Mr Magino said.
This put the government in a dilemma, and with the current Global inflation all governments are poor. Uganda’s budget is 30 per cent financed by donor countries, which have also experienced inflation, so it is best for teachers to wait for their increase in the next financial year, Mr Magino argues.
However, the teachers’ action of putting down tools is unethical they are trained to live exemplary lives basing on their code of conduct, the educationist adds.
iimaka@ug.nationmedia.com & editorial@ug.nationmedia.com