Sh29b set for schools in north
Oct 31, 2009
A total of sh29.3b has been set aside for the reconstruction of primary school facilities in northern Uganda, including teachers’ houses, Parliament has heard.
By Catherine Bekunda and Cyprian Musoke
A total of sh29.3b has been set aside for the reconstruction of primary school facilities in northern Uganda, including teachers’ houses, Parliament has heard.
The higher education minister, Mwesigwa Rukutana, revealed that the funds, part of the Peace Recovery and Development Programme, will be disbursed through the education ministry this financial year.
Rukutana was responding to a question raised by the northern youth MP, Denis Obua, on what the ministry is doing to provide better living conditions to primary teachers in the rural Universal Primary Education (UPE) Schools.
“They stay in dilapidated and grass thatched houses, which affects their morale to perform,†Obua observed.
Rukutana added that another sh16.4b had been provided under the School Facilities Grant, aimed at improving facilities in primary schools. The Government set up the grant in 1998, after the introduction of the UPE, to expand primary school facilities and helping needy school communities to complete or build new classrooms.
The money will also be used to build latrines, classrooms, and administration blocks, Rukutana explained.
He said his ministry had written to all chief accounting officers, advising them to prioritise construction of teachers’ houses in their respective districts.
In the same session, Rubaga North MP Betty Kamya revealed that many of her constituents, especially the youth, have been arrested and taken to Nsangi Police station, outside the area of their jurisdiction, for allegedly being idle and disorderly.
She explained that many have been tortured and forced to do hard labour on people’s farms in Kabasanda. Kamya lay on table pictures of a one Peter Katongole who had been arrested and died in Police custody.
“Is it normal for a suspect to be held outside his area of jurisdiction and be subjected to hard labour before his is convicted,†she asked.
Erias Lukwago wondered why the Police had not taken serious the president’s directive in 2006 that nobody should be charged with being idle and disorderly. President Yoweri Museveni said the law was archaic and only served the interests of the colonial masters.
Speaker Edward Sekandi advised the MPs to table a private member’s Bill, seeking a change on the penal code.
A total of sh29.3b has been set aside for the reconstruction of primary school facilities in northern Uganda, including teachers’ houses, Parliament has heard.
The higher education minister, Mwesigwa Rukutana, revealed that the funds, part of the Peace Recovery and Development Programme, will be disbursed through the education ministry this financial year.
Rukutana was responding to a question raised by the northern youth MP, Denis Obua, on what the ministry is doing to provide better living conditions to primary teachers in the rural Universal Primary Education (UPE) Schools.
“They stay in dilapidated and grass thatched houses, which affects their morale to perform,†Obua observed.
Rukutana added that another sh16.4b had been provided under the School Facilities Grant, aimed at improving facilities in primary schools. The Government set up the grant in 1998, after the introduction of the UPE, to expand primary school facilities and helping needy school communities to complete or build new classrooms.
The money will also be used to build latrines, classrooms, and administration blocks, Rukutana explained.
He said his ministry had written to all chief accounting officers, advising them to prioritise construction of teachers’ houses in their respective districts.
In the same session, Rubaga North MP Betty Kamya revealed that many of her constituents, especially the youth, have been arrested and taken to Nsangi Police station, outside the area of their jurisdiction, for allegedly being idle and disorderly.
She explained that many have been tortured and forced to do hard labour on people’s farms in Kabasanda. Kamya lay on table pictures of a one Peter Katongole who had been arrested and died in Police custody.
“Is it normal for a suspect to be held outside his area of jurisdiction and be subjected to hard labour before his is convicted,†she asked.
Erias Lukwago wondered why the Police had not taken serious the president’s directive in 2006 that nobody should be charged with being idle and disorderly. President Yoweri Museveni said the law was archaic and only served the interests of the colonial masters.
Speaker Edward Sekandi advised the MPs to table a private member’s Bill, seeking a change on the penal code.