Makerere University bursar resigns

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Makerere University bursar Augustine Tamale has resigned. In his notification, dated April 20, 2018, Tamale said that he will leave office at the end of June this year.

“The purpose of this letter is to give a notice of resignation from the position of bursar of Makerere University. I will serve for the next two months under this notice and leave on Friday June 29, 2018,” he said in a letter to the University Human Resource Director, Andrew Abunyang.

Tamale added that his resignation was prompted by “personal reasons”. He did not divulge details.

Prior to joining Makerere University, Tamale served as a Senior Accountant (2001 – 2006) and Manager-Revenue Accounting (2006 – 2016) at The New Vision.

But his appointment had come with drama and controversy. After emerging best candidate on two different interview engagements, the university appointment board was unwilling to confirm him. The appointment was confirmed when Tamale threatened to report the university to Inspector General of Government (IGG).

Over the last two years, he has been in charge of the office that manages all financial transactions of Makerere University. The office is responsible for the maintenance of all financial records in the department and a proper accounting system for the University.

The office is the main point of contact for all Grants and Sponsored Projects, It provides stewardship over projects’ assets and funds, Halls and Students Welfare, processing students’ allowances and monitoring commitments on Hall expenditures, among other duties.

The same office coordinates and supervises preparation of the University budget, Salaries and Payroll, it monitors, Internally Generated Funds, supervises the collection of revenue at all collection centres, reconciles revenue collected to the units, and monitors the performance of all collections.

In his resignation letter, Tamale said he played a role in improving the university financial position and improving the university’s financial reporting system and debt reduction.

In 2013, the then University Bursar Joshua Karamagi resigned after disagreeing with management on the introduction of staff incentives that he said were a costly venture for the institution. The incentive was an additional financial package given to members of staff as an overtime allowance for undertaking extra duties. Such duties include among others, teaching evening and weekend classes.

It was proposed by management to persuade lecturers who were striking, demanding 100 percent salary increment to call off the strike. The arrangement which started in 2013 has seen lecturers earn incentives amounting to 70 percent of their monthly salaries.

The university was paying up to sh 4 billion every month in incentives to its over 2,600 members of staff. However, the package was not paid since February 2016 leading to a series of strikes by lecturers under the umbrella Makerere University Staff Association-MUASA. The evening Programme was suspended early this year.

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URN