IT IS ONLY AN IDIOT THAT CAN ACCEPT A BRIBE TO SEE TEACHERS NOT GET A SALARY INCREMENT IN 2011/12 FINANCIAL YEAR

IT IS ONLY AN IDIOT THAT CAN ACCEPT A BRIBE TO SEE TEACHERS NOT GET A SALARY INCREMENT IN 2011/12 FINANCIAL YEAR
I heard on news in the electronic media that MPs accepted a bribe to agree that there is no money that can be paid to teachers in th current financial year. If this is not a rumour but gospel truth, then the MPs who got the alleged shs 1,000,000 or so are a bunch of idiots, and whoever raised this money to see it paid to them deserves no better than being burnt alive the way thieves are treated by the locals these days. Those who have education at all have gone through the hands of teachers, it is sad that the plight of teachers has been ignored by the NRM Government and instead the money that would go to see them enjoy better pay has either been stolen or used to pay people in useless administration positions and among other areas to see to the creation of an exploitative middle class. It is sad, but on the matter of teachers’ salaries, the NRM has proved a real disappointment to Ugandans. I happen to be a son of a father who through his active life was a teacher, but it is basically the NRM administration where I have seen the pay of the teacher not worth. If it had been one of those areas NRM takes as priority, every Ministry budget would have had a cut to realize their objective. What is most unfortunate is that the NRM Government has never owned up to the increasing depreciation of the currency, instead they are quick to tell those who can believe them that the problems are world wide!
The day when majority of the people of Uganda learn what the truth is in life, may be the country will change for the better. The people continue to make decisions that cannot help them, they should know the truth, and many times have been told the truth about NRM leadership, given its deceit and how some of its cadres have looted the country, these same people end up electing NRM in a variety of positions and the country keeps sinking on and on. When a review is made of a number of contracts made, when you see someone’s contract cancelled and he demands billions that are later paid to him, you wonder why God cursed the would be Pearl of Africa.
You need to be a victim of the excesses of some of the people in NRM to appreciate how rotten it is. In 1988, I made a decision to join Nile Bank with the hope of moving to the top fast given that we were so many graduates in Uganda Commercial Bank. Little did I know that I had made a life long mistake! In 1990 about which time the problems of power started, a gentleman and a businessman – Caeser Kakooza was used by some people within Nile Bank with the possible knowledge of Richard Kaijuka a former shareholder in the same bank and the then Minister of Energy to open a Uganda Electricity Board account in the bank. One day, Kakooza presented a cheque solely signed by himself, as the officer concerned with corporate accounts, I accessed the account number and found all details correct, but had not been party to the opening of the account up to the processing of the cheque book, and here I was signing cheques on an account which some insiders knew was fake but had authorized opening it. Shortly after wards in the course of 1991 around Easter time, it was news to learn that Kakooza had been caught opening a similar account in the then Cooperative bank; and trust some people in Nile bank, the y panicked and saw the best was to send me on an indefinite suspension, and I can tell you, I have never had opportunity to tell court what happened but I lost my job and today from a banker I find myself as an advocate of Good Governance. My last blow was when the Late Abu Mayanja was Minister of Justice and some closed cases were got back to courts of law. This case was one of those and some how I had known about it and went to the Magistrates Court at Mengo; little did I know that I was wasting time. The case was got from the court room it had been allocated and taken to another Magistrate, and when I inquired, I was told that it had been postponed or what and I lost interest in it. So, when some people say that in NRM there are some mafia’s you just have to be a victim of these and accept.
I am convinced that something could be done to alleviate the plight of the teachers if only the Government had them at heart. Merely saying that increasing teachers pay would lead to a circle of other civil servants demanding for pay is empty. If Government created the situation in which the country is in to-date, it has to own up and do all in its mandate to better the situation. As long as we have people in Government who are after exploiting the others and hence taking away the little that majority would share so that they enjoy lavish lives; a chain of women and girl friends, we are doomed. Common sense would dictate to our leaders that shs 200,000 paid to the teachers now cannot even meet the requirements of one big vehicle of many of the senior leaders in a few hours that vehicle runs on the road. If such a vehicle needs shs 100,000 in fuel to travel to Kamuli from Kampala what sense is in shs 200,000 when it is paid to a teacher who is paid full time by Government? What is so absurd and I will repeat it over and over is the in-sensitiveness of the NRM Government over continued sponsoring of the so-called Government sponsored students. We are having a hello of problems with the NRM simply because it has cadres who think they know and when you analyze what they do it is empty. You now wonder where a parent who serves Government in a dedicated way can get the money to pay for tuition as Government lets the Government owned Universities charge tuition and non-tuition fees as they wish to have the ends meet, where it has failed to fund them as would be required, and instead Government continues with a scheme that would long have been scrapped and replaced by an Educational loan scheme.
As for Uganda we need to send a lot of prayers may be God will reconsider the country and help us see change to take us a step further.

TEACHERS' PAY RISE FOR NEXT YEAR
Monday, 12th September, 2011
By Moses Walubiri and Henry Sekanjako

THE Government has made a commitment to increase teachers’ salary by 15% next financial year.
The Government says it is not able to increase the teachers’ salaries this year due a constrained resource envelope.
The Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) called off the strike on Saturday, urging members to resume teaching today.
The union observed that since the Government had promised a salary increment in July next year, it was time to get back to work.
During a debate of the budget committee report at Parliament on Friday, the Prime Minister, Amama Mbabazi, said the Government had learnt lessons from selectively giving different civil servants salary increments.
“No one can doubt the Government’s concerns about the need to raise teachers’ salaries, but we are financially constrained,” the premier said.
Mbabazi said a 20% salary increment for primary school teachers would require an additional sh172.5b and a 100% increment would require sh840.4b.
Mbabazi said the Government had come up with a new policy against selective increment of salaries.
He allayed MPs fears that giving teachers a salary increment would affect universal promary and secondary education.
“The scrapping of UPE and USE programmes is not in government plans,” Mbabazi said.
A number of MPs, however, expressed fears that forcing demotivated teachers to teach would affect the quality of education.
“What kind of education are these poorly-paid, demotivated teachers giving to our children?” Richard Todwong asked.
However, some MPs expressed concern over the budget committee for not taking the issue of teachers salary increment as serious.
The committee was tasked to identify wasteful expenditures in the budget and recommend re-allocations
Makindye west MP Hussein Kyanjo said money allocated to government projects like the patriotic clubs could be cut to provide for the teachers’ salary increment.
Nathan Nandala Mafabi suggested the sh4.5bn allocated towards the running of barazas be diverted to cater for teachers salaries .
“We should have these monies extended to teachers’ salaries, we don’t need these barazas,” he said .