Today December 1st 2016 marks exactly one month since the closure of Makerere University after the directive of President Yoweri Museveni.
Today, members of Makerere University management are sitting at the Senior Council Room in the Main Building to discuss the staff salary impasse.
Recently, Prof. Wan-Etyem the chairperson University council announced that staff would not receive salaries until the campus re-opens.
By the close of November yesterday, no single University staff had been paid. The outcome of the meeting will determine whether staff will get paid, and by extension, have the university re-opened.
Charles Barugahare, the University Secretary has been saying Makerere, which was closed indefinitely on November 1st, has no money to pay staff salaries for November and December. The University requires 12.7 billion shillings to pay its 3,533 staff for two months.
In a November 25 letter to all staff, the University Council Chairperson, Eng. Dr. Charles Wana-Etyem, stated that the institution has not been able to raise its 40 percent contribution to the wage bill to pay lecturers and other staffs.
Barugahare, who is the chief accounting officer at Makerere, said last evening that the ministry of education has not addressed the issue of closure.
"We wrote to the ministry seeking guidance regarding the matter asking how we would be able to raise top-ups for staff salaries when we are not generating revenue. It is unfortunate that in their response to us, they never addressed the issue raised but insisted that we process the November salary," Barugahare.
he added that when the University wrote to government, it's response was that they were not to remit other monies to the university which meant that Makerere had a deficit they could not meet without the Internally Generated Funds (IGFs).
He however said the university management will convene today to discuss the matter.
Barugahare adds that the 40% University contribution is from the Non Tax Revenues or the internally generated funds which include fees paid by students and ground rent from some of the commercial units.
A section of Members of Parliament have started a fundraising drive, looking for Shillings 30 billion to clear the salary incentives. The move is spearheaded by Gerald Karuhanga, the Ntungamo Municipality Member of Parliament and National Female Youth Member of Parliament, Ann Adeke Ebaju.