Lawmakers have demanded that the Ministry of Education and Sports pays salaries of part-time teaching staff of Kyambogo University.
The beneficiaries include those who were discontinued and others who are still teaching but have deligently pushed on for several months without pay.
The matter that was raised by Workers’ Representative, Hon. Margaret Rwabushaija during plenary sitting on Tuesday, 17 September 2024, was responded to by the Minister of State for Education and Sports (Primary Education), Joyce Moriku during plenary sitting on Wednesday, 18 September 2024.
The minister explained that payment of the arrears for all part-time teaching staff now totaling Shs6 billion has been constrained by budget cuts.
“Wages for part time lecturers is under allowances that are released quarterly and these suffer budget cuts. The budget line for allowances suffered a budget cut of Shs2.6 billion resulting in non-payment of non-teaching staff and this accumulated into arrears,” Moriku said.
She added that during the current quarter of the financial year (July to September), only Shs149 million was released to the university, which is inadequate.
Moriku further explained that the staff were discontinued because the university’s policy on recruitment was revised and involved advertising of vacant positions of part-time lecturers, saying that those who were discontinued were not successful.
Rwabushaija, however responded by arguing that consideration should have been made to prioritise payment of arrears before recruitment of new staff.
“The part-time staff were needed because of shortage of full-time staff but at the same time, the university’s Human Resources department was directed to get part-time staff and others who were not paid were laid off. This means that workers are not considered,” she said.
The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi, concurred with Rwabushaija, saying that failure to pay arrears of the staff could result into a court case, subsequently costing government more funds.
“What is clear is that we need to invest in education. All of us are products of education. It is important that we take care of this, let us pay the part-time teaching staff before throwing them out,” said Ssenyonyi.
Workers’ Representative, Hon. Charles Bakkabulindi, said that the staff who were discontinued are entitled to their salaries.
“Whether recruited rightly or wrongly, they are entitled to payments. Before you come in with how you will deal with gaps, first correct the mistake. Let us treat them like human beings. I would expect the minister to tell us how we are going to get the Shs6 billion,” Bakkabulindi said.
Luweero District Woman Member of Parliament, Hon. Brenda Nabukenya, noted that whereas Kyambogo University has good infrastructure, there is need for government to invest in the human resource, saying that the current staffing level at 30 percent compromises the quality of education.
“We cannot get quality education without human resource, with 30 percent, there is a problem. The minister must accept this; a department must have senior lecturers, assistants and professors,” she said.
Hon. Emmanuel Ongiertho (FDC, Jonam County) called for a comprehensive report on all public universities, saying that almost all of the institutions face similar challenges.
“If we take a decision to audit these universities, it has to be done for all public universities and other higher institutions of learning,” he said.
The Chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee (Central Government), Hon. Muhammad Muwanga Kivumbi, reported that the committee already conducted oversight visits to public universities, among other entities and the reports are ready for presentation, to which the Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, guided that the reports be presented next week.
