Teachers in Amolatar district protest over unpaid salaries

Amolatar, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Several teachers in government-aided schools in Amolatar district are protesting the nonpayment of their salaries. Over 100 teachers scattered in 11 schools in the district have gone without pay since September.

Some of the affected teachers joined the District Local Government recently, and have not yet appeared on the payroll. The teachers claim that they have repeatedly engaged the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to establish where the problem is, but their efforts haven’t yielded results. On Tuesday last week, their leaders visited the CAO’s office and were promised that they would get their pay later that week but nothing happened.

On Tuesday, a group carrying placards stormed the office of the deputy Resident District Commissioner, Ahmed Lyaval demanding their salary arrears, saying there was discrimination in the payment of staff salaries in the district. “You All Passed Through Us”, “We Need Our Salaries,” and “Stop Putting Our Money in Fixed Accounts,” read some of the placards.

Fredrick Opio, a teacher at Alemere Comprehensive Secondary School who was heading the team, accused the Chief Finance Officer (CFO), District Education Officer (DEO), and Human Resource Officer (HR) of intimidating teachers who go to their offices to inquire about their salaries.

Kizito Ogwal, one of the affected teachers describes the situation as annoying and unfair, because they are sure that the government has already sent money for their salaries to the district and wonder why they have not been paid.

Michael Ogwal, a teacher at Alemere Comprehensive argued that the delayed payment of their salaries is belittling, and shows how the government doesn’t care about secondary school teachers. He tasked the responsible people in the district to ensure that their salaries are paid to improve the standards of education.

Geoffrey Ocen, the Amolatar LCV chairperson confirmed the delayed payment of the teachers, especially for the months of September, and attributed the problem to inadequate funding and transitional challenges resulting from the transfer of the CAO.

He however says that they will fix the problem, saying that starting November, every district staff will be paid by the 25th day of the month.

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