Ugandan private school teachers may have to wait for more months, years or even forever before getting money promised by President Yoweri Kaguta Tibuhaburwa Museveni as well as that channeled through an international organization as Covid19 relief and bailout packages.
In 2020, President Museveni promised private teachers Shs20bn.
And months ago, GiveDirectly, an international organization, committed to ensure that each Ugandan private school teacher gets Shs100,000 as relief cash after they missed out on money for the vulnerable poor. (Read Story Here).
But the process is slow and painful for employees who endured almost two years without working due to the Covid19 pandemic and the lockdowns that came with it.
While there are hopes that the GiveDirectly money could be sent to private teachers’ accounts once the process of validation gets done sometime this year, there have been twists in accessing the money promised by President Museveni.
For over a year now, teachers under their associations such as Uganda Private Teachers’ Union have complained about the delayed Shs20bn bailout.
For example, on April 14, 2021, Uganda Private Teachers’ Union Secretary General Juma Mwamula and his colleageues petitioned then speaker Rebecca Kadaga over the presidential pledge.
Mwamula revealed that there was a plot by officials at First Lady Janet Museveni’s Ministry of Education and Sports and Matia Kasaija’s Finance docket to manage these monies for their alleged selfish interests.
“They have curtailed several of the teacher independent organised voices through our trade union. In occasions where we have expressed our concerns about this money, the officers at the Ministry of Education have regarded us as a less representative group,” Mwawula told the then speaker.
“There have been proposals of an interest rate of 15 per cent on the money that the teachers are supposed to access, which is a prohibitive measure that can make them miss out on this grant meant to leverage their lives.”
But sources at the education ministry have told The Pearl Times that it is the private schools and teachers that have delayed their money since they have not formed Saccos in their respective districts.
While, the education ministry had reportedly proposed that the money be channeled through the Uganda National Association of Private Schools and Institutions, some private teachers and their associations rejected this idea.
The task of managing the fund and distributing the cash to Saccos was then given to the Microfinance Support Centre (MSC).
MSC will also be expected to inspect the Saccos before channeling the monies to them.
It is not clear how long the process of formation and approval of Saccos will take.
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