Non-teaching staff at public universities will not get a salary increase this financial year, President Yoweri Museveni has said.
Museveni, made the remarks recently as he met representatives of non-teaching staff of the six public universities at State Lodge, Mbale, and added that the government had prioritized infrastructure development after which it would address other pressing national issues. The delegation was led byJackson Betihamah, the chairperson of the Public Universities Non-teaching Staff Executive Forum (PUNTSEF), following a petition to the President to help them address the issue of salary enhancement and equity.
On August 3 non-teaching university staff from Makerere, Kyambogo, Mbarara, Busitema, Gulu and Muni went on strike, demanding that government enhances their salaries at the start of the new academic year this month.
In response the President assured the delegation members in Mbale that the government will increase their salaries in the next financial year.
“My proposal to you is in principle, we are not against you. We cannot increase salary this year because there are so many things to be done. Ministry of Finance may increase the salaries next year. We are not against the principle of equity but it’s only the timing. We began with the most urgent and later we shall support the rest,’’ he said.
He said while government now collects Shs. 12,000 billion per year, it prioritizes its spending according to the urgency and added that in the past government concentrated on paying salaries to civil servants and supporting the Army and in the process this led to dependency on the donor funding ‘which was too little to support all government developments’.
The President also disclosed that government spending on road repairs had risen to Shs3000 billion, up from Shs3 billion, after his intervention and added that many roads including the Tororo-Mbale-Soroti had been constructed using government funds.
