Makerere refuses to stop strike

Nov 09, 2006

MAKERERE University academics yesterday snubbed President Yoweri Museveni’s request to call off their strike.<br>They said they would maintain the strike until the Government pays a professor sh2.8m basic salary.

By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
and Herbert Ssempogo


MAKERERE University academics yesterday snubbed President Yoweri Museveni’s request to call off their strike.
They said they would maintain the strike until the Government pays a professor sh2.8m basic salary.

Some lecturers wanted the university closed as the strike enters the seventh day today but the majority rejected this.
In an emergency general assembly at the Medical School, Mulago, about 300 lecturers said they had waited for the pay rise for too long.

“We have passed a resolution to maintain the strike and continue struggling for our demands until the Government commits itself to meet these demands. Our requests were not fulfilled by the President. Instead, he continued making promises which have not been honoured in the past,” the Makerere University Academic Staff Association (MUASA) vice-chairperson, Dr. Baker Nyakaana, said as his colleagues shouted in agreement.

He said, “They are deliberately refusing to understand our position.” Museveni on Wednesday requested the staff to resume work as a committee considers their demands.

MUASA executive were expected to communicate yesterday’s resolutions to Museveni and Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi after the meeting which ended at about 5:00pm.

Prof. John Barya of the law faculty, who was co-opted on the team, said, “The struggle continues. That is the consensus. When you go on strike and get nothing from it, how do you go back to teach? What would you tell the students? We will look like fools. We will not go back unless our demands are considered. We taught these people, they cannot outsmart us.”

Barya said the lecturers were willing to resume teaching if sh10.6b was given to Makerere to enhance the staff salaries and cover arrears since July 2006.
By last evening, military Police had been deployed at the campus which was deserted.

MUASA also passed a resolution that all the 45 students remanded in Luzira prison be unconditionally released.
“Whereas we condemn the hooliganism of a section of students, those remanded should unconditionally be released,” said, Dr. Bwana Simba of the Social Sciences faculty.

Even those at the campus should not be put under house arrest, he added.
“Even the lecturers and their families who reside at the campus should not be held hostage,” said one elderly academic.

MUASA chairman Dr. Augustus Nuwagaba said the staff condemns hooliganism by students. “We asked the students to remain calm but they refused and went on rampage. We do not support this kind of hooliganism,” he said.

On Wednesday, Museveni told the lecturers that the Government was only willing to pay sh2.8m as gross salary including both government and university council contribution.

They want a sh1.1m salary enhancement from the council maintained.

But the staff yesterday opposed this, saying it was a breach of trust by the Government. Nyakaana read a letter written by Nsibambi, saying the Government would pay professors sh2.8m.

An associate professor would earn sh2.48m, a senior lecturer, sh2.07, a lecturer, sh1.53, an assistant lecturer, sh1.2m and a teaching assistant, sh1.19m.

The head of gender and women studies, Dr. Grace Bantebya, said, “The University Council made a mistake and reflected its contribution on our pay slips. Other public universities did not do this and they got the sh2.8m. Why is it only Makerere subsidising the Government to pay academic staff?”

Computing and Information Technology dean Dr. Venansius Baryamureeba said, “In 2004, we wanted sh1.1m from the University Council for a professor and sh2.8m from the Government to make it sh3.9m. If the Government says all this is its money, let them pay sh3.9m. We don’t mind where it comes from.”

In a letter, the students reiterated their support for the strike. Kampala Extra Police chief Grace Turyagumanawe met the student guild leaders.

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