Kampala, UGANDA – Today was a quiet day on the campus of Makerere University, Uganda’s largest and most prestigious higher education institution. Typically this time of year, the estimated 33,000 students are head-deep in their studies at the beginning of the fall semester and the armed guards at the entrance gates are only a fraction of what they are lately. The government has placed the guards there in case a riot breaks out – by university staff.
The entire staff of the university is striking – and it has been for going on three weeks now. The staff is demanding a 100 percent salary raise for each of them. If they don’t get it, they “may have to take goats,” joked professor Aaron Mushengyezi, head of the Department of Journalism and Communication. The comment would be funnier if it didn’t have the sting from the minister of the presidency – a government position. Ugandan media quoted minister Frank Tumwebaze as saying “if the striking lecturers don’t want to go back to lecture rooms, let them go and rear goats.” Mushengyezi laughed Monday as he and other colleagues he chatted with held hope that an agreement would be reached within the next 48 hours.
Mushengyezi and his colleague Florence Namasinga talked about how university staff hasn’t had a raise since 1999. So when government officials accuse them of greed and arm-twisting, it raises their ire. According to the university staff association’s chairman, the highest-paid level – a professor – makes about $1,150 a month. Teachers with doctorate degrees make about $850 a month.
Namasinga says this isn’t the first time staff has gone on strike in the 14 years since the last raise. But the personal financial situation for each person is dire. Teacher retention is being threatened, which makes the fourth-ranked university in Africa at risk of losing its status. Already, the Journalism and Communication Department has lost its entire staff in the last three years. Higher-paying jobs in private and public sectors are too good to pass up, even if they have to abandon their chosen career. Worse, students are now lashing out at striking teachers, saying their demands are unrealistic and if they hold out for the 100 percent increase, tuition and other student fees will rise beyond most students’ means.
