As expected, public universities opened two days ago but, in effect, remain not open after the government failed to honour a commitment to increase the pay of non-teaching staff. Many people will be wondering how and why the government cannot find Shs28 billion to pay off the workers who have held firmly onto their determination to remain on strike until their dues are met.
One hope is that the government will not be tempted to resort to intimidation as a way of resolving this long-standing problem. Such tactics have been seen in the health sector where army doctors are routinely pressed into service at public health centres when civilian staff lay down their tools. Experience, however, has shown that you cannot sustain this sort of thing because you will have only dug a hole to plug another hole.
A longer term solution, preferably one involving keeping the commitment to pay the enhanced pay, must be sought.
If we are to believe the news reports, the problem is not about lack of cash per se. What seems to have happened is that money meant for the salary enhancement appears to have been diverted. And now the government is biting its tongue as officials try to come up with a plausible explanation.
The non-teaching staff will feel slighted. They are unlikely to resume work in the near future given the casual manner with which their concerns have been handled so far. The promise by the Education and Finance ministries to come good on the arrears in the second quarter of the financial year is problematic in itself as it suggests that there is no money in government coffers, which is hard to believe.
Only a few weeks ago, the same government appeared ready to shell out Shs3 trillion to private companies facing financial distress. The university staff must have taken note and will probably find it hard to understand that the same government now cannot find a fraction of that sum to pay their arrears.
This whole affair reeks of a lack of goodwill. The government does not come across as an honest negotiator. In the meantime, we are again doing a great disservice to the students whose semester will now be pegged back.
How can we expect perfect scores at our public universities if the tranquility necessary for proper application is always disrupted by the noise and chaos stirred by industrial action? The quality of public education in this country has already fallen to very low levels. The primary cause of this malaise is the government which gives the impression of being either unwilling or unable to properly address itself to the issue.
Uganda deserves much better.
The issue: Strikes.
Our view: The primary cause of this malaise is the government which gives the impression of being either unwilling or unable to properly address itself to the issue. Uganda deserves much better.
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