Makerere University staff withdraw court case over retirement benefits

By John Masaba

KAMPALA - Makerere University staff, under their umbrella Makerere University Staff Association (MUASA), have resolved to settle out of court a case in which they had wanted the university to be compelled to pay all accumulated retirement benefits owed to them.

Meeting in a general assembly meeting on Friday at the university’s main hall, the staff said they have decided to withdraw the case to save the university from incurring exorbitant expenses in prolonged court battles.  

The staff had taken the university to court over unpaid arrears, saying the university was showing little commitment to clear the monies.

Since as far as March 2008, no staff had got paid and yet part of the retirement package is supposed to be paid within one month of retirement.

In 1996 the University Council introduced the in-house scheme, fully funded by the university, but with difficulty to run the scheme due to lack of funds, the council closed it in 2009, replacing it with the mandatory scheme, whose money was contributed to the National Insurance Corporation (NIC). 

Under the scheme, each staff contributes 5% of the monthly salaries while the university tops up with 10%. 

'Redundant land'

According to MUASA spokesperson, Louis Kakinda, the staff will meet court and top university officials on February 10 to formerly withdraw the case in court.

However, Kakinda said they will ask that university surrenders to them a number of its properties so they can develop them and use the proceeds to clear their accumulated debt, which stands at sh30b.

“We know the university is broke, but it has a lot of redundant land scattered across the city. We can use them to generate money without harming the university,” he said.

Some of the properties include a five-acre piece of land in Bwaise, a half-acre plot of land in Bwaise where Chez Johnson Hotel is located, and the land on which Makerere University Primary School now sits in Makerere Kikoni.

Kakinda said the properties are endangered and prone to being encroached on because the university has not developed them or has left them to be utilized by other people.

Efforts to speak to university administration about the plausibility of the deal were futile as neither the university spokesperson nor the Vice Chancellor could be reached by phone.

During the meeting, the staff announced that the university had approved a health medical scheme for all staff.

Pay rise

MUASA chairperson Dr Muhammad Kigundu said the scheme will start this financial year. He thanked President Museveni for agreeing to increase salaries of professors and other academic staff in public universities.

According to the new salary scale, each university professor will receive a monthly pay of sh15m, an associate professor will bag sh13m while the lowest paid academic staff—the teaching assistant—will be paid sh5m.

Kigundu thanked the staff for bearing with his less confrontational approach to leadership, saying it had borne more fruit than the previous leadership.

He said because of being less confrontational the staff had been able to strike a deal with the President that culminated in the staff salary enhancement. The enhancement comes barely a year after staff salaries were increase by 70%.

“We are grateful to the president for looking into our welfare. It will go a long away to preventing brain drain. There will be no more strikes. We now want to serve and take Makerere to new heights,” he said.

He said the increment will increase the wage bill for academic staff across public universities from sh103b to sh300b every month across public universities, reflecting an increase by sh190b.

The public universities include Makerere, Kyambogo, Gulu, Uganda Management Institute (UMI), Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Busitema.

He called on staff to use the new salary boom to develop themselves in order to avoid the fangs of poverty when they clock the retirement age.  

Dr. John Kitayimbwa, the secretary of the Makerere University retirement scheme, said the university was starting a SACCO (Savings And Credit Co-operative) to help the staff develop a saving culture.

He said the SACCO is expected to start this academic year and will enable staff borrow at minimal interest rates to solve their problems.