Kumi Secondary School Teachers Finally Lay Down Tools

By Emmanuel Okwii
KUMI – Secondary School teachers in Kumi are currently on day two of a sit down strike over non payment of April and July salaries. The strike that officially began on Monday is an attempt by teachers to arm-twist district leaders and the government to respond to their cry before resumption of duty. When Daily Monitor visited Mukongoro, Ngero, Kanyumu and Ongino secondary schools, teachers simply sat under trees and staff rooms as they watched over their students who loitered all over the school compounds.
According to the teachers, the CAO and the Principal Personnel Officer should exp0lain why April salary had not been paid and ensure that their July salary is paid before they take up their tools of trade.  They also claim that there were rumours to the effect that the April salary had been wired into someone’s personal account, a matter daily monitor cpuld not independently verify.
The teachers say that the district’s local government leadership seems not to be responsive and concerned about their plight.
“We alerted the principal personnel officer in April about the non payment but he didn’t respond although he promised to communicate to us after consulting the ministry of public service,” Mr Ogwang Michael said adding that they waited for the communication in vain.
Mr Gideon Orena, a teacher at Mukongoro senior secondary school said that the situation needed industrial action.
“I have told my colleagues that all we can do is to sit down. We may give Mock exams on grounds of sympathy,” Orena said.
The teachers say that although most districts in Teso had been affected between April and June, salary arrears of the affected districts were cleared together with salary for July, with an exception of Kumi.  
“Someone must cough out this money. We can’t just surrender our earnings after toiling for these several months,” Nicholas Atwaeta, one of the teachers in the district said. He also said that there was nothing special or peculiar about Kumi and if they continue ignoring their cries, they will not set and administer end of term two examinations.
The teachers also say that their Principal personnel Officer is rude and doesn’t always want to communicate to them issues pertaining non payment of salary.
“When you go to his office, he doesn’t want to explain to explain things. He told us that April pay slips were ready but how can pay slips be printed without salary payment,” Okwii Emmanuel, a concerned teacher said. 
Primary school teachers in Kumi and Secondary school teachers in Ngora last week received two salaries in a space of for days, a matter that provoked the Kumi teachers to strike.
Blame game
When a delegation of head teachers from Kumi sought advice over the matter from the personnel’s office on Monday, he told them that the anomaly arose out of a deficit in the district’s wage bill.
“Our district’s wage bill has been less by Shs192Million and this is where the shortfall comes in. I have communicated to the headquarters and I am awaiting their response,” Mr Okiria Julius reportedly told the delegation of headteachers that visited his office. He however added that although the district had done its part, much of the responsibility lay with the public service.
“We are mostly responsible for the recruitment of primary school teachers and ensuring that they are paid. We only help secondary school teachers to access the payroll and we have less control over their timely payment,” Okiria went on.
The Kumi district’s CAO, Mr Joseph Balisanyuka said that there was still no cause for alarm.
“It is still too early to raise an alarm. Your salaries will be paid and I don’t think government can deny you what you have worked for,” Balisanyuka told the teachers’ representatives that visited his office.
Mr Richard Okiria, The Chairperson of Eastern region headteachers’ association as well as the headteacher of Ngora high school has said that the teachers deserve an explanation.
“It is criminal to hold someone’s salary even after he has worked for it. Whoever is concerned about this should give an explanation about this matter such that the teachers’ hope is restored,” Mr Okiria said. He adds that there has been deletion of ghost teachers from the payroll by the public service and this had affected many teachers. “A whole district can’t be full of only ghost teachers. Much as I love peaceful resolution of conflicts, teachers should go back to class after being given an assurance of their april and July salaries,” Okiria went on.
 
However, Ms Alice Muwanguzi, the RDC Kumi said that the matter had been reported at his office and appealed to teachers to be patient.
“I have been telling them to be patient because the president has directed that their salaries be paid although I can’t specifically tell when,” Ms Alice Muwanguzi said.