Prime
Kyambogo part-time staff go months without pay
A student and a boda boda motorcyclist pictured at Kyambogo University main gate. PHOTO/ STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- One of the affected lecturers, who asked for anonymity in order to speak freely, told this publication that he had not received his monthly allowances for the last 10 months despite rendering his services to the institution, including working overtime
Part-time lecturers at Kyambogo University have threatened to withdraw their services or withhold students’ examination results after going months without pay.
The university administrators attribute the delays to financial constraints.
One of the affected lecturers, who asked for anonymity in order to speak freely, told this publication that he had not received his monthly allowances for the last 10 months despite rendering his services to the institution, including working overtime.
“The university is not bothered to find out how we survive. I have debts at almost every shop in my village, school fees debts for the children are on my neck yet I also have to sustain my family,” he said.
Another lecturer, who asked to be only identified as Amon, said he has not received his pay since November last year on explanation that there was a technical breakdown in the university payment system.
“I didn’t know that the challenge cuts across. I have always thought it is personal to me. If there is a serious challenge, the university should be open to us about the real problem because the situation is deplorable,” he lamented.
All the part-time lecturers contacted by this publication confirmed the challenge and appealed to the university administration to clear their arrears without further delays.
The Vice Chancellor, Prof Eli Katunguka, confirmed the delayed payments.
“The university is aware, but the institution is short of money to pay these people now. We are thinking of reviewing their terms and maybe start paying them in the next financial year,” he said.
He added: “We are waiting for government to give us money so that we pay them. They should be patient, even the students are not paying, and they are (students) on strike because they don’t want to pay tuition.”
Prof Katunguka further noted that the university is still devising strategies to monitor part-time lecturers to ensure that they are paid according to their services.
This comes at a time when students at the same institution are on a peaceful demonstration against what they call exorbitant charges on tuition defaulters.
The institution’s spokesperson, Ms Jennifer Sibbo, said financial challenges have been exacerbated by the inadequacy of full-time lecturers in some sensitive departments like engineering, forcing them to seek expertise from the part-time lecturers who are not budgeted for.
