Makerere University Administration building

The parliamentary committee on public service and local government has directed government to kick start the negotiation with the universities’ non-teaching staff on pending strike over their demand for salary increase. The directive was issued by the chairperson of the committee Grace Freedom Kwiyucwiny after the Minister of state for planning, David Bahati, told the committee that the government has no funds for salary increase for university support staff this financial year.

The university non-teaching staff promised to strike starting 3rd August this year if their salary is not enhanced as it was done to university professors.

Bahati said that the non-teaching staff salary increase will only be considered in the next financial year and added that the ministries concerned are to hold negotiations with the universities support staff to ask them to wait a bit for their salary enhancement. He however observed the need for government to have a comprehensive salary structure for each sector instead of handling them in bits.

The minister of state for sports Charles Bakabulindi said that university professors’ salary was enhanced on the directive of the president after observing a risk of losing them to other countries which have better pay for them. Members of Parliament warned government on segregation while considering salary rise in any sector because it causes losing out some staff. The MPs also queried why the Ministry of education did not use the university councils to make salary increase and allocation to different category of staff instead of using the Ministry’s technical officers.

The universities’ non-teaching staff salary enhancement requires 30 billion shillings.

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The group said that government should enhance their salary because their absence affects the work of the teaching staff yet they earn little. The group also said it is unfair for government to only increase the salary of academic staff leaving out non-teaching staff that make the universities run. They asked the parliament through the Parliamentary Committee of Public Service and Local Government chaired by Grace Kwiyucwiny to prevail over government to provide 37 billion shillings for their salary enhancement.

Workers Member of Parliament Arinaitrwe Rwakajara said it’s not fair for government to only consider the academic staff yet the non-teaching staff are equally important.

The number of Non-teaching staff in all public universities is over 4000 from universities like Gulu University, Makerere University, Mbarara University, Kyambogo University, Muni University, Soroti University among others

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