Last Updated on: 20th April 2023, 06:15 pm
Adjumani, April 20, 2023: More than 170 secondary school teachers of Adjumani district have gone two months without receiving their salaries for February and March 2023.
The teachers stormed the office of the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) to demand their unpaid salaries, giving CAO until Friday, April 21, 2023, to pay their arrears. The teachers say if they are not paid by Friday they will engage the State House Anti-corruption Unit and the Inspectorate of Government.
The secretary of the secondary school head teachers Habert Henry Ogwal who presented a petition to CAO on behalf of the aggrieved teachers, said they are unable to go to school, unable to pay their rent and school fees for their children due to the unpaid arrears.
Part of the petition presented by the teachers read, “As the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development has released and communicated that all the money is provided, we expect prompt payment for April 2023, in case the salaries for February and March are not fully paid by Friday, April 21, 2023, we shall seek legal redress an intervention from the statehouse anti-corruption unit and inspector general of government.”
Nobert Igama is the principal Human Resources Officer of Adjumani district who clarified that the district has done a thorough analysis of salaries from July 2022 to June 2023 and realized that the district has a shortfall of shs 5.1 billion.
He said the current budget for wages for secondary school teachers is shs 2 billion for the financial year, monthly expenditures for salaries are shs 343 million and for the twelve months the district is expected to utilize shs 4.1 billion leaving a deficit of shs 2 billion.
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For tertiary education, the approved budget for this financial year for wages is shs419 million and per month they use shs56 million. For the entire 12 months, he says the figures go to shs 683 million giving a deficit of shs264 million.
Under Natural Resources, Igama said the approved budget is shs 280 million, and in a month the money spent is shs 48 million. For the entire 12 months, the district spent shs 576 million with a deficit of shs 296 million.
In the Department of Works, the approved budget for wages is shs 120 million. Monthly wages stand at shs10.7 million and for one year it is shs129 million with a budget fall of shs 9 million.
In the Water sub-sector, the approved budget is shs 48 million. Monthly, he said the district spend shs11 million the entire year shs 143 million with a deficit of shs 96 million.
For primary health care, the approved budget is shs 9 billion and the monthly expenses are shs791 million. For the 12 months, shs11 billion is required and there has been a deficit of shs2.4 billion.
“All the money approved and sent to the district were consumed by January 2023, in total, in the district we have 447 employees who are not paid salaries for February and March amounting to shs592 million,” Igama said
Richard Edema, the Principal Assistant Chief Administrative Officer acknowledged the plea of the teachers, saying it is in line with the guiding principles of the public standing orders.
After receiving the petition and signing it, the principal Assistant Chief Administrative Officer requested the teachers to resume teaching as his office would follow up on the issue with the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development.
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