Teachers have been modest with their request

So, technically, in Uganda, improving the livelihood of public servants constitute subversion of development while bribing Parliament and funding their lavish lifestyles support national development. I think the teachers have been modest with their request for increment of their remuneration and I support their strike fully.

I heard the statements made by President Museveni while meeting Ugandan teachers in Jinja with awe and shock. I have written in these columns before, describing the deplorable state of affairs of teachers in Uganda. I think if there are Ugandan martyrs who are alive and their contribution to Uganda’s economy must be celebrated every year, then it is the public servants.

The teachers, the police, the prisons guard, the nurses and the bulk of other professionals who toil day in and day out to circumvent our society from collapse are our true heros. The arrogance with which the President has approached this humble request by teachers to have their remuneration increased must be addressed and made a national issue, not just teachers’ issue.

I am yet waiting to see how the Police force that lives in the most worrisome houses and conditions will respond, as well as the nurses and the prisons guards.

But, the teaching profession is a noble and costly one which requires commitment, time for research and various preparations. Teachers need time to grade papers; pay one-on-one attention to their students, conduct intra-murals; organize extra-curricular activities and on top of that attend to their impoverished families and relatives. Even with their meager pay that always comes late or in arrears, teachers have proven to be the most prudent, resilient and patient group of public servants for many years. They toil the soil for food, wear modest clothes and live humble peasantry lifestyles with little hullaballoo

There is no special assistance accorded them as a national policy, such as scholarship for their children to study at high school or higher institution of learning. They are supposed to pay like MPs and Ministers. There are no health benefits or insurance for them and members of their immediate families, no contingency funds for emergencies, no -nothing. Teachers are just there, fully detached from the mainstream society, laboring day in and out to educate the nation.

They are scorned in village paths for their poverty and yet they are expected to lead by example. Some wear torn shoes, some cannot afford decent clothing, some have jiggers and others are homeless – because they are poor and yet RDCs and government officials still harass them, humiliate them and arrest them for not “living as role models in society”.

This contradiction in our society is by all means, a great form of indifference that must not be tolerated. I fully support the National Union of teachers for their strike and scorn those teachers and public servants who have not joined in this noble cause of striking.

President Museveni for instance has advised that teachers form groups to benefit from SACCOS. That is not a bad idea, but it is untenable because once Saccos proceeds kick in, teachers will abundon teaching and schools for business, creating shortfall of teaching staffs nationwide. The efforts and time required for a teacher to uphold professional standards should not be split between private business and public service. This, we already witnessed when teaching standards drastically depreciated during the coaching regime and we cannot afford a return to such a situation.

I agree with every other Ugandan who has pointed out that the sky high administrative cost and the cost of sustaining the political status quo is the real source of subversion to national infrastructure development and delivery of social services.

The Billions that the Statehouse requisitions annually to facilitate such a lavish lifestyle for the President and his gazillion relatives and cahoots in statehouse; the huge public funding that is sunk in bogus legislation called NRM Parliament; and the funds that gets stolen between government agencies and people of connection are the real causes of subversion. How come the MPs don’t give up their remunerations so that they can benefit from Saccos?

The number one priority is to radically reduce the size of governance at every level to a small and manageable one. In every developed and seriously developing country, teachers and public servants are some of the most reasonably paid. There is no way a nation can develop when its core employees in public service are viewed as subversive for asking for the fundamental right to earn a well deserved living after toiling with much commitment.

The President must be told without a wink that he has lost touch with realities and it is high time he considered retirement.

END.