Archive for category: NSSF

Makerere University academic staff have threatened to lay down their tools ahead of the new semester, in protest of the government’s failure to honor a presidential pledge to increase their salaries.

Speaking to the press on Wednesday last week barely days after the University opened for the new academic year, the acting Chairperson of the Makerere University Academic Staff Association(MUASA) Prof. Edward Nector Mwavu said that his colleagues would stay home until the government addresses their concerns.

The move follows a similar call by the Forum for Academic Staff for Public Universities (FASPU) and the Public Universities Non-Teaching Staff Executive Forum (PUNTSEF). In a joint letter dated August 2nd, the professional associations called upon their members to undertake industrial action. “This is further to reaffirm that you stay at home until our concerns are addressed by government,” the letter reads in part.

The staff accuse the government of reneging on a presidential commitment to progressively increase the salaries of academic staff across all public universities over a 5- year period, the end of which a Professor would earn Shs.15million.

The agreement was reached between President Museveni and the academic staff from all public universities following a similar industrial strike in 2014 before the lecturers agreed to resume teaching.

Now, Mwavu says that the government must rededicate itself towards evaluating the performance of the salary enhancement Scheme. Currently, a non-Science professor earns a gross salary of Shs.8.5 million, Shs.6.5 million shy of the targeted Shs.15million, yet the 5year implementation period of the salary enhancement scheme ended in July this year.

In the just began financial year, the government set aside Shs.15 billion towards salary raise for both teaching and Non-teaching staff in public Universities, but Prof. Mwavu insists that’s “peanuts,” weighed against staff expectations. “Shs.15 billion is a lot of money in figures, but when you try to distribute it across all the Public Universities, it means that a person who was supposed to move from Shs.8.5 million to Shs.15 million might only move to Shs.8.8 million,” he told theCooperator.

He argued that at this rate (Shs.15billion each financial year), it would take the government up to ten years to achieve the commitment made by the president. That, coupled with inflation, and the fact that more hitherto unplanned staff are coming into the payroll means that there is no significant benefit to staff, says Mwavu.

“Last financial year, we received a total of Shs.58 billion for all Public Universities but the staff members who got the highest enhancement received about Shs. 600,000 only. What about Shs.15 billion spread across all public Universities! What will each staff get?” Prof. Mwavu asked.

The Makerere University Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe has however called upon the staff to resume work with the new semester, as negotiations continue with the government. The semester resumed on August 3rd with the reporting of First-year students, while the continuing students report today.

Last year, learning at the university came to a standstill for nearly a month as lecturers demanded unpaid arrears from the government worth over Shs. 29 billion. Prof. Mwavu called upon the government to avoid the reoccurrence of a similar scenario this time, arguing that they(Staff) had raised the alarm as early as possible to allow the government to consider their plea in time.

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Arua, Uganda: Teachers in West Nile sub-region have appealed to the government to consider paying them according to their qualifications.

Speaking during the launch of WALIMU Savings and Credit Cooperative Organization (SACCO) funds for the teachers of West Nile on Tuesday, the teachers, mostly from primary and secondary schools blamed their reluctance to upgrade their levels of education on what they called government’s “failure to value their academic papers.”

“We are urging the government to pay us according to our qualifications. For our case as primary teachers, we are getting a salary scale of U7 which is about Shs.400, 000 net whether you are a graduate or a fresh Grade III teacher, and this has demoralized many of us from upgrading,” said Daphine Amajuru, a teacher from Adjumani district.

At the event held at Heritage Courts Hotel in Arua town and graced by First Deputy Prime Minister Moses Ali, the Union(WALIMU) officials also launched a dummy cheque of Shs.499.8million, which has already been disbursed to three teachers’ SACCOs of Adjumani, Nebbi/Zombo and West Nile teachers’ SACCO.

The money is part of the Shs.17.085 billion which was received by WALIMU SACCO from the government of Uganda, as part of the government’s phased pledge to invest Shs.5billion in the teachers’ SACCO. WALIMU SACCO is the umbrella body of all teachers’ SACCOs in Uganda, whose principal role is to foster the growth and development of teachers’ SACCOs in the country.

During the function, Amajuru told Gen.Ali that many teachers were finding it useless to spend their little salaries on upgrading yet the government doesn’t factor in qualifications when determining their pay. She said that as a result, teachers were lacking in motivation, thus affecting the performance of government schools.

She instead proposed that the government set aside funds to assist teachers to upgrade, like is the case with other civil servants in the district.

Amajuru was backed by another teacher, Marino Tabule from Maracha, who argued that time had come for the government to start paying teachers’ salary scales that are commensurate to their level of education.

“When you complete a Diploma especially for primary school teachers, they say that adds you a knowledge advantage, but the pay stays the same. I think that is totally unfair because they don’t consider the fact that you spent a lot on the studies.,” said Tabule.

Meanwhile, Jamal Magezi, a teacher of Onzivu primary school in Arua Municipality attributed teacher absenteeism and by extension, poor performance of government schools to the poor remuneration of teachers, which he said leaves them no option but to look elsewhere to make ends meet, undermining their concentration at school.

“The uncertainty in the fluctuating prices in the market is affecting us so much, a reason we opt to go for quick loans and later run away from classes for fear of being arrested by the financial institutions,” said Magezi.

He welcomed government investment in their SACCOs, saying that it was a welcome relief from exorbitant interest rates of commercial banks.

“Most microfinance institutions have been giving us loans with high-interest rates. You find a teacher borrowing money at an interest rate of between 20 to 30 percent per month, and yet he has other things to do with the same salary. This has forced most teachers to dodge classes because money lenders are following them for their loans,” said Magezi.

In response, Moses Ali assured the teachers that the government was aware of their plight, and promised to present their concerns in Cabinet. In the meantime, he urged the teachers to make use of the WALIMU SACCO funds to supplement their salaries.

“Your number is so big as teachers and this has been a big challenge to the government. But as we prepare to address your problems, use this opportunity to borrow at affordable rates to supplement on your salaries,” he said.

According to Stephen Nabende, the National Board Chairman of WALIMU SACCOs Union, so far, 17, 000 teachers from 185 SACCOs have benefited from the funds in the whole country. He encouraged the teachers in West Nile to form more SACCOS in their respective districts also partake in the opportunity

WALIMU SACCOs Union advances funds to teachers’ SACCOs at an interest rate of 8 percent per annum, and teachers borrow the money at a rate not exceeding 15 percent per year, a rate that’s significantly lower compared to those of commercial banks.

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Kampala, Uganda: Uganda Wild Life Authority(UWA) has urged Communities around National Parks to organize themselves under cooperatives, to better benefit from the annual Park revenue collections shared with wild-life hosting communities.

Since the enactment of the Wildlife Act Cap 200 of 2000, UWA has been remitting 20% of the annual park gate collection fees to host district local governments, to strengthen cooperation between the Wild Life body and the hosting communities towards sustainable management of wildlife resources.

Over the years, however, there have been persistent complaints about the utilization of remitted funds, with host communities accusing their local government officials of misappropriating the funds to benefit their own interests, yet they(communities) are the ones who pay the price in form of ruined seasons when animals stray into their gardens.

Now, UWA is moving to mobilize and encourage host communities to organize themselves into cooperative groups and societies, to be able to better benefit from the remitted revenue and hold their local governments accountable.

Speaking during this year’s annual Editors Breakfast meeting held at the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala on Tuesday, UWA Executive Director Sam Mwandha said: “Once people get organized, it becomes very easy to mobilize and address their problems.”

He said following the formation of SACCOs and Cooperatives by communities residing next to the parks, they are now able to closely monitor how the cash that we give them is utilized.

“Before, it was very hard for us to get them to agree on what development projects they (communities) needed to engage in. sometimes, because of these disagreements, the districts took advantage to utilize the funds remitted,” said Mwandha.

He said UWA had taken it upon itself to train organized groups in projects like beekeeping, and that they are now reaping from the skills gained.

Mwandha said UWA will this year release over Shs.30billion to National Park hosting districts, and would going forward pay keen interest in how the funds are utilized.

He said that a total of Shs.6billion had already been released in May this year, to benefit communities in the districts of Kasese, Mitooma, Ibanda, Kamwenge, Rubirizi, Rukungiri, and Kanungu.

Justus Agaba from the Bwindi Ruhija SACCO around Bwindi National Park applauded the Revenue sharing program, saying that it was having a real-time impact on the lives of his community. “Apart from the construction of schools, health centers, and latrines, we are now getting to benefit as organized SACCO members,” he told theCooperator.

TheCooperator has established that most organized groups around parks are now engaging in Bee Keeping and handcrafts making to supplement their incomes. Local beekeeping around Bwindi Impenetrable Natural Forest, in particular, is dominated by the use of traditional hives, commonly known as basket hives.

Others are moving to take advantage of tourist arrivals in their localities to sell their products. “Through the various trainings that we have got as SACCO members, we are now in a position to appreciate the importance of tourism, especially through the sale of crafts to tourists who come to visit the parks,” said Rosemary Komuntale from the Rubirizi Women’s SACCO.

She said they have been trained and supported under the Bwindi Collection to produce high quality handicrafts that appeal to international tourists.

Handing over a cheque of Shs.4.4billion to the district leaders of Kisoro, Rubanda and Kanungu – all of which surround the Bwindi- Mgahinga Conservation Area, Tourism Minister Ephraim Kamuntu hailed the emerging organization amongst Wild Life hosting communities, noting that it is a win-win for them and the government.

“We (government) do appreciate the contribution of communities neighboring protected areas in the conservation of wildlife in Uganda, and want to see them prosper,” he said.

Mwandha said that part of the money will benefit 24 community projects in Rubanda district, and another 35 projects in Kanungu.

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Over 70 women Cooperators in Zombo District are out of work after their Cooperative’s coffee processing plant ceased operations due to lack of electricity.

The women – members of Okoro Coffee Cooperative, used to work at the cooperative’s coffee processing plant, but have since been laid off after the plant ceased operations in 2006.

Gilbert Wachal, the manager of Okoro Coffee cooperative told the Cooperator that their processing plant used to process 15million kilograms of coffee per season, but was forced to wind down operations due to exorbitant energy costs. “We were depending on a generator, using 600 liters of fuel in 10 to 12 hours. The cost was neither making business sense, nor sustainable, so we had to stop,” he said.

Although the electricity network passes just 100 meters from the cooperative factory, Wachal says that their appeals to the government to be connected have fallen on deaf ears. He said that when they contacted the Rural Electrification Agency (REA), they were told they needed a three-phase transformer to generate sufficient power to serve the factory, which they couldn’t afford.

Attempts to get help from the State Minister of Energy, Simon D’Ujanga who is also the Okoro County MP were not successful either. Instead, D’Ujanga asked the cooperators to be patient, saying that plans are already underway to connect Zombo district to the national grid, after the completion of the Karuma Hydro-power dam.

When contacted, a source from REA who preferred to speak on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency confirmed that the agency has already dispatched teams on the ground in Zombo to begin the work of connecting the district to the national grid.

Zombo district is one of the four districts yet to be connected to the national electricity grid. The others are Kotido, Kaabong and Buvuma Islands.

For now, Okoro Coffee Cooperative continues selling its coffee in raw form, forgoing significant revenue that the cooperative previously generated from selling processed coffee. “We have been deprived of other by-products of coffee like the husks which we would sell as manure to farmers,” says Wachal.

As a result, Wachal says, the cooperative has struggled financially, and today lacks sufficient capital to buy coffee from its member farmers, who have resorted to selling directly to middlemen.

As for the processing factory’s machinery, Wachal says it is intact, even though he fears it could have acquired minor faults due to years of inactivity. “When we eventually get connected to electricity, we will be able to detect if there are any faults or not,” he says.

For now, the Cooperative is being anchored on by We Effect– a global NGO focused on strengthening the capacity of small-holder farmers to form cooperatives through which they can better articulate their interests.

Okoro Coffee Cooperative was established in 1962 and presently boasts of 12,000 members. Among its other properties is a 50 ton-store located 6 kilometers away from Paidha town council, which also remains largely unused due to lack of capital.

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