Threats against teachers demanding a fair remuneration must stop now

The teachers are striking once again and they are supported by foundation bodies which in the first case founded schools long before government got interested in education. Most parents support them too because they are interested in a good education for their children. Job satisfaction is important in any work place, especially in a school environment. A happy teacher is a good teacher. Part of the explanation for falling education standards is poor remuneration of teachers, who see their peers prosper through corruption avenues that are not available to them. Government cannot plead inability to pay when it is creating superfluous new districts which no significant section of the population considers a solution to any of the myriad problems facing the country. For example, how has the status of a district given Bududa an early warning system about an impending landslide or preparedness to handle a landslide when it occurs? How has possession of a district contributed to the reduction of high levels of HIV/Aids in the Sese Islands or how have the very many districts of Karamoja uplifted the region from abject poverty and underdevelopment or how have the innumerable districts of Busoga helped to resolve the impasse over the selection of a Kyabazinga or the reduction of the highest level of the incidence of poverty in the country?

The level of remuneration of civil servants is generally very low and needs to be appreciably improved to, among other things, make it possible to control corruption. In a corrupt system, public officers like teachers, most soldiers and others without opportunities for corruption must be properly remunerated upfront. This is the point which the teachers have consistently made. The recent PAYE threshold increase is too low as the figure was proposed more than 10 years ago before the value of the Shilling had fallen so badly. The minimum PAYE threshold should be at least Shs500,000. If one favoured public officer can be paid more than Shs40 million plus extravagant benefits then the outcry of the teachers must be heeded as a plea of shortage of funds sounds hollow. The premise that teachers are expendable is false as in fact more teachers are needed since most schools are understaffed. Threats against teachers demanding a fair remuneration for their labour must stop. Peaceful strike action is within their constitutional rights to highlight the effects of the worsening cost of living in the country.

****
For ages, there has been a government advert that “water is life”. As if the economic situation is not bad enough, government has recently imposed a Value Added Tax of 18 per cent on this “life” without indicating what value has been added this financial year which was not there the year before. This is yet another effect of the over expenditure on the last general elections, which created the lack of funds that is being felt across all government ministries. But it is stretching matters too far to tax water merely because government knows that no one will abstain from using water because of the imposition of a tax. However, this being largely an urban issue, it could spark off street protests and the usual collision with the Police. Government should therefore rethink this measure. The issue is not whether the tax is high or not, it is whether water should be taxed at all.

****
The demand of Bunyoro for a share of oil revenues is legitimate but it should be made in conjunction with other legitimate demands. For example, the impact of oil and gas extraction on the environment can be quite serious. Therefore, Bunyoro must insist on environmental provisions, in the oil agreements, which ensure high standards commensurate to those in developed countries and which impose stiff noncompliance penalties and make it mandatory for the oil companies to restore polluted areas so that the oil companies are discouraged from the temptation to cut corners. If the provisions for training Ugandans to manage oil provisions are weak, this will also affect Bunyoro. Therefore, besides the share, Bunyoro should be concerned that the agreements with oil companies are fair to the country. In addition, Bunyoro should also work out a development plan indicating what the money will be used for.

Mr Ruzindana is a former IGG and former MP.

a_ruzindana@yahoo.com