No money for teachers, says budget committee chairKAMPALA The chairman of the Budget Committee of Parliament, Mr Tim Lwanga, has said there is no money to pay for increased salary of teachers. “As far as I know, there is no money in the Budget short of cutting from priority areas. I don’t know why people are not being told the fact directly,” Mr Lwanga told the Daily Monitor in a telephone interview yesterday. Mr Lwanga’s committee was last Friday instructed by Speaker Rebecca Kadaga to sit with officials from the Ministry of Finance to find money for the teachers, according to sources. But yesterday Mr Lwanga, who is also Kyamuswa County MP, said he had not been part of any discussion “to that extent” and that he was awaiting instructions from the Executive. Mr Lwanga said the donors’ decision to withhold aid had created a Shs750b loophole in the Budget. “People forget that we require Shs250b not only to pay teachers but the low-paid civil servants, the police and the soldiers,” he said. MPs last Friday blocked the passing of the Education ministry budget demanding that government finds Shs130 billion to facilitate a 20 per cent salary increase for teachers. Teachers say they have identified about Shs243b mainly in travel and conference allowances which can be diverted to their cause. The NRM caucus is scheduled to meet today at State House Entebbe. Ms Cissy Kagaba, the executive director Anti-Corruption Coalition, said: “They will just indulge in the usual rhetoric. They will caucus and the matter will be swept under the carpet. We also know people who are survivors in that Parliament and if they receive a call from the President they will drop the demand.” At around this time last year, MPs were up in arms threatening to block the Health ministry budget if government failed to avail to Shs260b for health workers salaries. After back and forth discussions, government intervened through the NRM caucus, saying “good things lie ahead for the health sector” and the legislators capitulated. The MPs have also backtracked on other important issues like the State House supplementary budget and on corruption cases where NRM big wigs are cited. Also, the controversial approval of some presidential nominees to different jobs has left Parliament looking weak. “It has become more of a talking other than an implementing Parliament,” says Ms Kagaba. “If the President says there’s money, then they will get the money and when he says there’s no money then there will be no money.” She added: “ The power now is with the President. They don’t have any independence and so they don’t have the capacity to determine how a particular sector is fully appropriated.” Asked about the teachers demands, Mr Jacob Opolot, the vice chairperson of the committee on education, said he did not have details and was waiting for communication from the Finance minister and the budget committee. “Maybe we shall be briefed in the caucus by government,” he said. But the NRM caucus deputy spokesperson, Ms Evelyn Anite, said the teachers issue was not on today’s agenda and would only be discussed if MPs brought it up. “The caucus has been convened to discuss coordination of government in Parliament and it’s to be lectured by the President,” she said. “Members will be free to raise other issues and maybe the education issue will come through that.” Ms Kagaba also says MPs would have led by example by diverting Shs976 million meant to purchase iPads for them to teachers. “If they are committed, they should have dropped the iPads deal but they are very selfish. They will talk and when time comes to vote on the issue, they will go with what the President wants; which is no money.”.
Posted on: Mon, 16 Sep 2013 09:41:13 +0000
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