Makerere University lecturers who are currently on strike will be paid their salaries and incentive allowances for November as they carry on further negotiations regarding payment of their complete package.
The information is contained in a December 13 letter by the University Council Chairman Dr Wana Etyem to the Makerere University Academic Staff Association (Muasa) chairperson Dr Muhammad Kiggundu Musoke, highlighting the resolutions of a meeting between the two parties on Tuesday.
In the letter Dr Etyem says the four month incentive arrears will be paid by June 30, 2017.
However, sources at the university said some lecturers were not pleased by the development, with arguments that there was ‘no substantial result of their industrial action if all the arrears are not cleared’.
In October this year Makerere university lecturers and students went on strike after both the university and government failed to honour commitments to pay them Shs32 billion in incentive arrears.
At the time of the lecturers strike, the students also went on strike, protesting against not being taught, a situation that prompted President Yoweri to order the closure.
‘Pursuant to the powers vested in me by the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and Section 26(2) of the Universities and other Tertiary Institutions Act 2001 as amended, decided to close Makerere University with immediate effect, until further notice, in order to guarantee the safety of persons and property’, the President wrote on October 30.
Subsequently, the President appointed a Visitation Committee led by Dr Abel Rwendeire to investigate the Makerere impasse and come up recommendations on how the university’s operations can be streamlined.
