Makerere University in the age of emotion and blackmail

  
Yet strikes by Makerere academic staff are not new. They have been the major instruments they use to force government to increase their pay. In 1987 they were demanding a “living wage”. While their cause was genuine then, today Makerere lecturers are demanding a “luxury wage” that goes beyond the means of a poor country like Uganda. In 1995 lecturers went again on strike over pay, paralyzing the university. They have gone on strike consistently since. In order to understand the problems of pay at Makerere, let us address them with a historic perspective.

The first question is: has government been insensitive to the pay of its lecturers at Makerere? In 1987/88, the year of currency reform, and the year when Makerere lecturers first went on strike under the Museveni administration, the salary of a professor was Shs 4,355. When adjusted to inflation, it comes to Shs 272,928 in 2015 prices. By 1990, this salary had increased to Shs 13,000. When adjusted to inflation, it comes to Shs 92,000 in 2015 prices – a significant decline in real terms over three years. See Table 1.

However, by 1995/96 this trend had begun to reverse. In that financial year, the salary of a professor had reached Shs 447,893. When adjusted to inflation, it comes to Shs 1.55m in 2015 prices. This shows that between 1990/91 and 1995/96 there was a 1,585% real increase in lecturers’ wages. Yet in spite of that, Makerere lecturers went on strike over pay. Today the salary of a science professor before the aforementioned “incentives” is Shs 8.03m while his counterpart in the humanities is 7.1m. This means that since 1990, the earnings of a professor at Makerere have increased by 61,357% in real terms from Shs 13,066 to Shs 8.03m (for a science professor) and by 54,237% to Shs7.1m for a professor of arts.

We can demonstrate this in another way. Uganda government revenue in 1995/96 was Shs 627 billion (Shs 2.172 trillion in 2015 prices). Total government budget for 1995/96 was Shs 1.014 trillion which, when adjusted to inflation, comes to Shs 3.5 trillion in 2015 prices. Uganda’s revenues and budget have grown immensely over the last 20 years to Shs 13.5 trillion and Shs 21 trillion respectively today. How have Makerere lecturers faired?

Government has consistently increased the wages of lecturers are Makerere at a rate faster than the growth in per capita revenue (total tax revenue divided by the population) and per capita spending (total government budget divided by total population). In 1995, Uganda had a population of 20.78m. In that year, per capita revenue was Shs 30,173 or Shs 104,550 in 2015 prices and per capita spending was Shs 48,796 or Shs 169,000 in 2015 prices. Today, with a population of 40m, per capita revenue is Shs 337,000 and per capital spending is Shs 525,000.

Now we can illustrate our point: in 1995/96, a professor’s salary was 15 times the per capita revenue and 9.2 times of per capita spending. Today a professor’s salary of Shs 8.03m (before incentives) is 24 times the per capita revenue and 15.3 times the per capita spending of Uganda. With incentives a professor’s salary is about Shs 10.5m i.e. 31 times per capita revenue and 20 times per capita spending as Table 5 shows. Across the board, salaries of lecturers in all categories at Makerere have increased much faster than growth in per capita revenue and per capita spending.

In fact as Table 1 demonstrates, the last three years have seen an unprecedented increase in the salaries of lecturers at Makerere. Since 2013/14 the salary of a professor and by extension all other categories of lecturers have witnessed growth of not less than 152%. Table 3 shows both the nominal (currency denominated Shillings) and the real (after adjustment to inflation) percentage increase in the salaries of all categories of lecturers since 1995.

This brings us to the second question: are Makerere lecturers poorly paid? How do we judge this? One way is to compare their wages with those of other lecturers in private universities in Uganda. I have done a survey and the average wage of a professor in private universities is Shs 5m, far below what government pays its professors at Makerere. The other way is to compare the pay of lecturers at Makerere with other public sector employees, like teachers, medical workers but especially civil servants.

The highest paid civil servant in Uganda is the head of the civil service. In 1990, his salary was Shs 12,155 which, when adjusted to inflation, comes to Shs 86,307 in 2015 prices. Today, the salary of the head of public service is Shs 4.9m. This shows a 5,577% increase over 25 years compared to a professor whose increase is 8,718%(for sciences) and 7,717% (for the arts). Indeed, all other civil servants wages including permanent secretaries have increased at a slower rate than for Makerere lecturers.

Makerere university lecturers went on strike because of unpaid “incentives”. Table 2 shows the amount of money each category of lecturers would earn if they these incentives were paid. And all this does not include the fact that many lecturers at Makerere, especially professors and associate professors, get free accommodation whose market value can be equal to their salaries i.e. they live in houses which, if they rented them, would cost $2,000 (Shs 7.2m) per month.

Then I checked with PriceWaterHouse Coopers, the firm that does annual studies on the relative wages in all companies and organizations in Uganda. Except for top and senior executives of large private firms like big banks, international audit firms, telecoms and the breweries and a few government agencies, lecturers in public universities in Uganda are among the most highly paid people in this country. Secondly, Makerere lecturers see themselves as a special category that should be pampered by taxpayers at the expense of everyone else. That is why they constantly use strikes to blackmail government to pay them more and more.