Former Coordinator of Intelligence Agencies, Gen David Sejusa, has appealed to President Yoweri Museveni to address the worsening situation of Ugandan teachers, urging the government to reduce the hefty pay of top officials and redirect the funds towards improving teachers’ welfare.
Gen Sejusa said the government’s treatment of teachers has reached “a desperate level,” calling on the President to act with compassion rather than repression.
“Something needs to be done, Mr President; not to sack them, not show them who is stronger, because they are very weak, at the mercy of the government, and they know it, but they are desperate,” Sejusa stated.
He added, “They’ve got to try and do something. We usually talk about Arts teachers, but I see the conditions of these primary school teachers, and the things they are forced to do to be able to survive, I wouldn’t even write them here!”
He revealed that he has witnessed firsthand the severe challenges the teachers endure, including poor pay and deplorable living conditions.
Drawing comparisons with the early post-independence years, Sejusa recalled a time when teachers enjoyed decent pay, free housing and access to land for food production.
“Some time back, I read in the Newspaper when two MPs, one also a Minister, Alexander Lobidra from West Nile and George Magezi from Bunyoro, walked out of the 1st Parliament when Obwangor introduced a motion for MPs to increase their salaries,” Sejusa recounted.
He said, “Yet, that was at the time teachers had free accommodation, their children studied free up to university, and there was land set aside at school compounds where teachers grew food to augment their earnings.”
Gen Sejusa criticized the current levels of remuneration enjoyed by Members of Parliament and senior government officials, saying they were unjustifiable given the country’s economic realities.
“Today, an MP earns almost a billion shillings a year as salary, allowances, travel, and all included, which comes to about 80 million per month,” he noted. “Others earn even more, like the Speakers, the Whips, the LOPs, the Committee Chairs, RDCs, Advisors, Parastatal heads, and other big offices. Why can’t government reduce a little from these people and pay our teachers? ”he noted.
Sejusa warned that the continued neglect of the teaching profession posed a grave risk to the nation’s future, as demoralized and impoverished teachers cannot effectively educate Uganda’s children.
In a direct appeal to President Museveni, he called for empathy and leadership rooted in moral duty rather than political convenience.
“I directly plead with the President to ignore those who try to politicize this issue, to exploit it for partisan ends,” Sejusa urged.
He added, “Ignore them because they are good-for-nothing people. Real good people are suffering here, and need no partisan crap to ditch them further. Just do the right thing, show the big heart, sir, not the destructive hammer.”
Gen Sejusa’s remarks come amid mounting concern over the ongoing teachers’ crisis, with educators across the country decrying delayed payments, poor working conditions and lack of government commitment to improving their welfare.
Gen Sejusa has urged government to prioritize education and treat teachers as essential pillars of national development rather than expendable workers.
