Busitema University has joined the strike by staff at public universities in Uganda.
Eng. Godfrey Ssajja Ssali, the Chairperson of the Busitema University Academic Staff Association – BUASA says they are have decided to join the rest of the public universities following a joint resolution by the Forum for Academic Staff of the Public Universities in Uganda to demand carried forward from the Financial Year 2017/2018.
The university’s position is communicated in his January 7, 2019 letter to the University Secretary of Busitema University. The letter was copied to the institution’s Vice-Chancellor, Deputies, Academic Registrar and all deans and Heads of Departments.
Eng. Ssajja says Busitema staff resolved to lay down their tools during the General Assembly last month at the Mbale Campus.
Eng. Ssajja says that they will not return to work until their promised salary enhancement by government was paid. He explains that a total of 289 teaching and non-teaching staff are bound by the resolution to withdraw labour from the institution effective January 7, 2019.
In 2017, the State Minister for Finance David Bahati committed to a payment of 58 billion shillings in the 2017/2018 financial year in partial fulfillment of the presidential promise of 15 million shillings salary for each professor by 2019/2020.
However, during the budgetary process for the financial year 2018/2019, the government budgeted for only 29.5 billion shillings which has not been paid.
Last year, staff from nine public universities during a joint strategy meeting among members held at Makerere University declared an indefinite, comprehensive nationwide strike effective 2019, if the payments remained pending.
Busitema is the third Public University to announce it has withdrawn of the staff labour after Kyambogo University and Makerere University Business School – MUBS.
