Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Professor Barnabas Nawangwe, has appealed to Parliament to support the University in obtaining urgently needed funds for salary harmonisation and pro-rata salary enhancement.
Professor Nawangwe presented the appeal at Parliament while appearing before the Committee on Education and Sports to defend the University’s budget framework paper for the 2024/2025 Financial Year.
In 2023, the Ministry of Public Service directed public universities to harmonise the grading and nomenclature of positions in staff structures, resulting in the upgrading of the salary scales of 1,000 staff members at Makerere University. The University requires UGX 12 Bn to implement the salary harmonisation for all the affected staff. Professor Nawangwe informed Parliament of the risk of staff industrial action relating to the non-implementation of the salary harmonisation.
The Vice Chancellor also beseeched Parliament to support the implementation of the enhancement of University staff salaries to meet President Museveni’s pledge of paying a salary of UGX 15 Million to a professor pro-rata for all the staff. Professor Nawangwe emphasised that meeting the staff’s remuneration appeals is critical to sustaining the stability that the University currently enjoys.
As part of the Government budgeting cycle, Public Universities appeared before the Parliamentary Sector Committee on Education and Sports to report on their performance and defend their budget proposals.
Professor Nawangwe highlighted the various achievements registered by the University in teaching, learning, student graduation, research and innovations, including the Innovation Hub. The University updated Parliament on the progress in infrastructural development, including the Main Building restoration, Perimeter Wall construction, and the construction of the Schools of Law, Public Health, and the School of Women and Gender Studies.
Committee members noted that there were several technological innovations at Makerere University and pointed out the need to promote the popularisation and uptake of the innovations beyond the University. The members also applauded the University for the pledge to issue transcripts to graduates of the 74th graduation on graduation day, which solves a persistent problem of delays in issuing transcripts.
The Vice Chancellor further implored Parliament to appropriate funds for the renovation of the College of Health Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine, increasing the rate paid for Government-sponsored food and living-out allowances, and restoration of the funding to the Infectious Diseases Institute and the Julius Nyerere Leadership Centre, among others.
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