Over 120 staff’s salary arrears at Makerere University have accumulated to 14.6 billion Ugandan shillings in the past one year which puts the University in a very big dilemma to settle these salaries. Among the affected are 73 administrative staff recruited by the University Appointments Board in 2018 but are not on the payroll and 48 others whose salaries haven’t been adjusted to correspond to their new ranks, months after their promotion.
In July 2019, Makerere suspended all staff promotions and new recruitments as a result of budget shortfalls. It has since been established that staff that were recruited but are not yet on the payroll caused a wage implication of 2.7 billion UGX before salary enhancement and to a tune of 2.8 billion UGX after enhancement was factored in.
According to reports, 48 staff who were initially on the payroll and were appointed to higher positions but their salaries haven’t been adjusted due to the funding gap left a wage difference of 1.07 billion UGX before enhancement and Shillings 1.12 billion after enhancement.
Following the financial crisis and underpayment, Makerere University Vice-Chancellor Prof Barnabas Nawangwe appointed a Human Resource Audit Committee last year to examine the staff and wage situation of the University. Management also commissioned an audit of the university payroll following a request of the Finance, Planning, Administration and Investment Committee (FPAIC) of Council.
Details of the job audit show that Makerere University had a total number of 3,410 staff at the end of 2019. This included 2,803 staff appointed on permanent terms and 314 staff on contract who combined, are supposed to be paid from payroll.
