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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has agreed to resolve the long-standing wage bill woes and salary discrepancies among academic staff at Makerere University Business School- MUBS.
According to a letter written by Patrick Ocailap, the Acting Permanent Secretary Ministry of Finance, the government has committed a supplementary budget of 4.92 Billion Shillings to harmonize salaries of all staff in the fourth quarter of the current financial year.
“We take note of the projected shortfalls of 4.92 Billion Shillings in this financial year 2020/2021 that are arising out of the desire to harmonize the pay of staff recruited by the university council to be consistent with the approved salary structures of public universities,” Ocailap’s letter reads in part.
Ocailap notes that the supplementary will be part of the consolidated wage supplementary to be submitted to the cabinet and parliament for consideration. He further notes to cater for staff appointed on local contracts by the university management, the ministry has also approved a re-allocation of the non-wage recurrent budget to wage bill as previously advised by public service.
The development comes at a time when academic staffs at MUBs are still on strike over continued unfair treatment as they earn much less compared to counterparts in other public universities.
The strike has already affected final year Students whose final examinations are yet to be marked.
However, Brian Muyomba, the Chairperson Makerere University Business School Academic Staff Association, says that they will not suspend their strike until the salaries are reflected on their bank accounts.
According to the salary structure from the Ministry of Public Service, a Vice-Chancellor in a public university is entitled to a salary of 20 Million Shillings, deputy vice-chancellor 17.4 Million Shillings, Professor 15.6 Million Shillings, an associate Professor 14.8 Million Shillings, a senior lecturer 9 million Shillings, lecturer 8.1 million Shillings, assistant lecturer 6.6 million Shillings, and Teaching assistant 5.7 million Shillings.
However, at MUBS, several staff members get half or even lesser compared to their counterparts at Kyambogo University. In the same development, documents also indicate that there are over 80 academic staff that was promoted about three or more years ago but they are still receiving the salaries of their previous positions.
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