The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | The Uganda Medical Workers Union has sued all striking Doctors and medical practitioners for engaging in an illegal strike.
The union has also sued the Secretary General of the Uganda Medical Association Dr. Ekwaro Obuku and Workers MP Dr. Sam Lyomoki demanding for damages resulting from announcing an industrial action without following the prescribed legal procedures.
According to the plaint filed in Kampala High court, the Uganda Medical Workers Union, the National Organisation of Trade unions and the Uganda Nurses and Midwives claim are the only organisations mandated to hold negotiations on behalf of health workers and government and therefore court should issue permanent orders barring any other persons from purporting to represent health workers.
The union also accuses Dr.Ebuku of having no mandate to call for the health Workers strike since he is not working in any public/government facility to purport to represent the socio -economic interests of public health workers.
For that matter the Union wants all the on-going negotiations between government , the Uganda Medical Association and Dr. Ebuku be declared as null and void and instead order government to hold such negotiations with the mandated bodies.
The Uganda Medical Association last week on Monday announced a sit down strike of all public medical practitioners until such a time government shall meet their demands that include better salaries and improved standards of service .
Is this all being done in effort not to pay medical professionals their deserved dues? How ungrateful!
On second thought, I am susicious that this Doctor strike is a red herring,diversion introduced to divert attention from the real issue…. AGE LIMIT. I am not going to have a monthly or every three months conversation about whether or not we pay our debts because that in and of itself does severe damage to our economy and scares away investors. Even the threat of default hurts our economy. It’s hurting our economy as we speak. We shouldn’t be having that debate. I suspect sooner than later, Makerere is going to strike over public debt and then, our night ladies will create mayhem over police brutality at night….then all strikes will be outlawed and the age limit will sail through silently at night. ejakait, the old trickster has done it again. Who said you cannot fool all people always? all people perhaps but Ugs is another matter.
That middle insert is a paraphrase of Obama when he was dodging a question
The Uganda Medical Workers’ Union and the National Organisation of Trade Unions should give us a break. I am personally a public health worker deployed in one of the regional referral hospitals. Those unions have not been useful to us health workers. They do not even carry out sensitisation exercises or other activities. I even wonder which individuals comprise their executive and which significant role they have so far played. UMWU even lacks a website and their so called offices are so ramshackled. They complain about Mr. president (Dr. Obuku) being a non-public health worker but they seem to be in the same boat. Their general secretary Mr. Sanya Aggrey is a “retired” clinical officer. Let them just join UMA in the struggle in order to synergise their efforts.
The Uganda Medical Association was formed in 1964 (breaking away from the British Medical Association), a couple of years after independence to unify, lobby and represent medical doctors, PLEASE NOTE THAT THE KEY WORD HERE IS MEDICAL DOCTORS, whether in private practice or public service. It has been legally in existence longer than the so called Uganda Medical Workers Union, which by the way was formed in 1996 following the Doctors’ strike in 1995. Other health workers like midwives, nurses and clinical officers, felt the need to unite with the doctors in their struggle under the Uganda Medical Workers Union. PLEASE NOTE that doctors DO NOT subscribe to the Uganda Medical Workers Union and therefore are not in any way, shape or form mandated to follow any orders, instructions or utter nonsense as laid out by this bogus union. So please Clinical officers, stop WASTING Doctors’ time. Consider upgrading instead or concentrate on your own grievances which are by the way even much worse than the doctors’. For God and all Ugandan Doctors.
This is a real issue. Obuku and his team are acting illegally, and deserves to compensate uganda for the loses cost in public hospital or face imprisonment.
If by any case they really need money so much, the advise is that they go through parliament and ask for the creation of Uganda medical authority- something similar to national drug authority, which will have access to public funds that can be used to top your earnings. Otherwise the 13% budget under the ministry of health shall never take you anywhere.
Less of that, all these so called strikes will be nothing but a reactionary emotional strategies. Example, the current strike is reacting to MPs salaries under the parliamentary commission which has its on budget compared to the MoH with 13% budgets to cater for over 15 departments. In summary, even with 39% budget allocated to MoH, the doctors salary can never More than 3 Times what they get now.
If you lacks what to publish just keep quiet. You don’t know what h/workers goes through