Makerere
University Appointments Board will tag the salary of staff to the number of days
they work.
Yusuf
Kiranda, the University Secretary says that the policy is aimed at curbing
absenteeism of both academic and support staff. According to records the
university employs more than 3000 staff and spends 206 Billion Shillings on
salaries annually.
According to Kiranda, the college principals, administrative units and
department heads will submit monthly schedules for their staff to the
appointments board as a basis for performance evaluation.
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Meanwhile, since the outbreak of Covid-19 in the country, students at the
university have raised complaints of absenteeism of lecturers who claim to
prefer physical lectures to online.
Last month when students contested examinations after two weeks of studying,
some of the complaints in their online petition were that they had not studied
some course units.
Dr. Robert Kakuru, the General Secretary of Makerere University Staff
Association noted that while it is a good initiative for the institution, there are likely to be inconsistencies in its implementation. He also questions how practical
the implementation will be.
He explained that this being the first time to roll out the policy, the staff are
on the lookout to see how it will be managed concerning ensuring that no staff
misses payment from complications in the process.
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Dr. Deus
Kamunyu, the Chairperson of Makerere University Staff Association also noted that
the process should not delay salary payment in any way as it will not be
tolerated.
“I hope the purported list won’t become a default reason for delays in salary
payment,” he said.
Shiphrah Kwagala
Freelancer