Alupo writes to Museveni over teachers'' demands

By Innocent Anguyo

 

MINISTER of Education and Sports Jessica Alupo Epel has written to President Yoweri Museveni and Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, seeking their advice on the teachers' request for government to change the mode of disbursing the sh25b meant for teachers' savings groups (SACCOs).

 

In 2011, Museveni pledged to give teachers sh25b to be remitted in five installments of sh5b each over five financials years to reinforce the financial clout of teachers' SACCOs.

 

However, the teachers under their umbrella body, Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) argue that since then they haven't accessed a penny, despite government having released it for the last two financial years.

 

In a petition filed to the Education Ministry on January 22, the teachers equally rejected government's mode of dispensing the money through the Microfinance Support Centre (MSC), a fund manager, on grounds that "the fund manager who is agreeable by teachers is the Union of Teachers' SACCOs (UTS). UTS is a sub-unit of UNATU.

 

The teachers have similarly rejected the initial 11% interest rate on the loans charged by MSC arguing that the pledge from Museveni was a grant.

 

In a meeting of teachers' representatives from across the country convened at UNATU head offices in Kampala on January 21, resolutions of which informed the petition to the Education Ministry, they agreed to give the government a 90-day ultimatum within which to remit their money interest-free through UTS.   

 

Failure to comply with the ultimatum, the teachers said they would resume their industrial action-announced on January 20 and suspended the following day-to give government time (the 90 days) to discuss their demands and devise means of delivering them.

 

James Tweheyo, the UNATU general secretary tells teachers' savings groups not to borrow from MSC until UNATU reaches an agreement with government on the modalities of how the sh25b can be accessed.

 

Alupo has attached a copy of the petition filed by UNATU to her letter to the President and the Prime Minister.

 

As the Education Minister awaits the response of her supervisors, she has referred the matter to an inter-ministerial committee that will soon start negotiations with UNATU.

Two SACCOs access money

 

Alupo however rebuffs the teachers' allegation that they have not received any of the SACCO money.

 

"The MSC has disbursed sh500m to Kayunga Mukono teachers SACCO and sh100m to Mukono teachers' SACCO," Alupo says.

 

Lower disbursements than projected

 

Alupo nonetheless agrees that the annual disbursements have not been to the pledged tune of sh5b, despite government's commitment to complete paying the sh25b in the scheduled five years.

 

"In the financial year 2013/2014, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development released sh4.7b from the Government Consolidated Fund to MSC and another sh2.5b has so far been released this Financial Year of 2014/2015," Alupo explains.

 

Alupo wants MSC to remain in charge

 

As much as Alupo awaits the guidance of Museveni and Rugunda on the subject, she recommends that government should stick to the advice of the Solicitor General, Francis Atoke, who says the SACCO Fund should be managed by a government institution.-of which MSC is.

 

The Minister nonetheless says that after the five-year period when government has disbursed the money, the teachers can sit with MSC and make a request to it to have a SACCO fully managed by themselves.

 

Education Ministry spokesman Patrick Muinda last year noted that the Ministry contracted MSC, which is a government institution that manages Government microcredit funds through delivery of affordable credit, to manage the Teachers Fund. "With her experience, the MSC emerged the best bidder/fund manager for the teachers SACCO Fund."

 

Workers MP speaks out

 

Workers MP Teopista Ssentongo has urged government to meet the teachers' demands in a bid to avoid further ado in the education sector.

 

Ssentongo says: "It is a wrong assumption for the government to say that the teachers lack the capacity to manage the sh25b."

 

"If government fails to listen to the teachers requests, it may result into continuous teachers' strikes that will both affect the teachers' performance and students' studies. Teachers have a right to manage their funds through UTS, as opposed to the MSC which is a third party," argued Ssentongo.

 

"MSC will charge teachers a higher transactional and management fees than if teachers managed."

 

More teachers' SACCOs to benefit

 

Alupo says government will soon begin a countrywide sensitization to dispel the falsehoods surrounding the teachers' SACCO.

 

The Education Ministry in a January 3, 2014 statement signed by Muinda for the permanent secretary, observes that the registered Teachers' SACCOs list is not representative of all teachers countrywide.

 

"The Ministry therefore advises the respective Chief Administrative Officer's (CAOs) of each district and their District Education Officer's (DEOs) to mobilize and sensitize their Teachers who have not formed SACCOs to form one in order to access these funds," the statement says. 

 

Alupo urges all teachers to join teachers' SACCOs across the country, in a bid to benefit from the fund and uplift their standards of living.

 

The Ministry observes that there were 187,153 primary and secondary school teachers on Government payroll compared to UNATU membership of 141,000 teachers as of June 2014.

 

The Ministry, according to the statement, advises MSC to verify all teachers SACCO's in the country against the compiled list with a view of enabling all teachers to access the SACCO Fund.

 

The Ministry recommends that the Ministry of finance provides technical expertise and capacity building to teachers SACCO's to effectively manage the fund.

 

Interest rates reduced

 

Late last year, MSC agreed to revise the interest rate it is charging teachers' SACCOs to 9% per annum from 11% per annum.