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To regain glory
In order for Makerere to regain its past glory it has to shed some new courses and go back to its core academic subjects with manageable numbers.
If we want 30,000 students, let us build facilities for 30,000 students and not squeeze them in facilities meant for 5,000 students.
From 1971 when Idi Amin took over power, Makerere was not spared the fate that befell the nation. Many staff left because their lives were threatened. The ensuing economic chaos led to shortages of essential commodities leading to inflation.
The Uganda Shilling lost value and salaries became inadequate. Since then, the currency, through the efforts of government and Bank of Uganda, has stabilised. Essential goods are readily available. However, because of political instability under Amin,
salaries in Uganda became distorted. This has resulted in salary disparity leading to a lot of discontent and strikes.
The example quoted often is the wages paid by Kampala Capital City Authority to a tea-girl of Shs1.2 million per month as compared to an intern doctor who gets about Shs600,000 per month. The tea-girl salary compares very favourably with those of lecturers at Makerere. In the medical field, senior consultants take home less than Shs2 million per month and
these people are expected to save people's lives.
I have the last British Colonial Staff list with all the salaries paid to the various senior staff from police offers to judges. The current salary scales bear no resemblance to the booklet I have.
When Makerere became a university, professors were appointed and these professors were the highest paid government staff. The Governor of Uganda was paid £3,000 per annum plus £2,000 duty allowance. The Chief Secretary earned £3,500 per annum. Permanent secretaries, who were all expatriates, earned £2,800 per annum. Makerere academic professors earned £3,000 per annum while medical clinical professors earned £3,300 per annum.
This soon changed after Independence. When Ugandans became permanent secretaries, they said: "We run a whole ministry how can professors who only run departments earn more than we do?" There started the downgrading of university staff.
The reason why the British paid professors more money than permanent secretaries was based on the fact that a professor can always find a job as a professor in other parts of the world whereas a permanent secretary is only that in Uganda.
editorial@ug.nationmedia.com
