Teachers in Mukono protest underpayment

Mukono, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Over 200 secondary school science teachers in Mukono district are protesting the underpayment of their July salaries. According to the teachers, the money they recieved is below the newly approved salary structure following the enhancement of their pay.

They claim that while uploading the payroll for July for secondary schools, the technical staff made errors causing the overpayment of some art teachers. The affected science teachers and head teachers claim that they approached Mukono Chief Administrative Officer to resolve the matter but nothing has been done.

Andrew Nsereko, the Deputy Headteacher of Bishop secondary school, says that three science teachers at his school are affected by the erroneous payment.

Patrick Wako, a teacher of Technical drawing and ICT at Bishop SS, says that he was meant to receive Shillings 1.9 million under the new arrangement but only received Shillings 700,000. Wako says that he was surprised to learn that art teachers had received more than they expected.

Several teachers are still turning up at the district demanding answers about the erroneous payment. Mukono Chief Administrative Officer, James Nkata says that they made errors relating to personal supplier numbers causing underpayment of science teachers. He appeals to science teachers to stay calm since they are working towards rectifying the errors.

“We will gradually pay off underpaid staff from the recoveries made until full payments are done,” he said. He revealed that he had written to head teachers to advise the overpaid teachers to sparingly use their July payments as they may not receive payment for some time.

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