KAMPALA– President Yoweri Museveni is not happy that teachers in government-aided schools continue to damand salary enahncements and has instead acused them of being “greedy”.
Instead, Museveni wants the Members of Parliament in the next financial years to give more money to the education sector to fund free and compulsory primary education. ‘We must budget for compulsory primary school education and stop these greedy teachers from sending children back home,” Museveni said yesterday.
The Ugandan Head of State was addressing Parliament following the presentation of the 2022/2023 financial year budget by the Minister of Finance, Matia Kasaija at the Kololo Ceremonial Grounds.
“We may not do it this year but in the next financial years, we should insist on free and compulsory primary and even secondary education and stop all these fellows who are looking for money through schools,” Museveni said.
The President’s outburst to the teachers followed the recent announcement by Uganda National Teachers Union [UNATU] that all teachers in the country would hold an industrial action today Wednesday 15, 202, if government failed to enhance their salaries in the just read Shs48.trillion budget for the new financial year that begins July 1, 2022 .
The education sector in the latest budhet was given Shs 4.4trn, with salaries of medical workers, scientists, and science teachers enhanced to the tune of Shs 495bln, even though government has said it will enhance the salaries of arts teachers in the future, given the limited resource envelope.
Meanwhile, disclosed that while on a recent tour in Moroto district, he discovered that the primary school completion rate is at six percent adding that in the whole country, the primary school completion rate is at 38 percent, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics.
“Children drop out of school because of school charges. It is disgusting to send children out of school because we are looking for allowances. We must say no. Let us budget and stop these greedy fellows from collecting money. This is what I wanted from 1997, but I cannot do it alone,” Museveni said.
He also advocated for the increaded budgeting for irrigation interventions saying that the problem faced by Uganda and Africa is lack of food.
“As long as Uganda is producing enough food, there is no problem we cannot solve. The danger to food is some laziness and the other is lack of rain or unreliable rain. That is why in the budget, we are putting irrigation,” he said.
He added that budgeting for improved irrigation interventions will stabilise agriculture and in the long run, avert the shortage of food.
To reclaim the wetlands, the President said that those occupying wetlands in Busoga, Bukedi, and Kigezi will be removed and compensated arguing that they were misled into settling there by the British.
“In other areas, people are going against our appeal and I demand that they vacate the wetlands without negotiations. Once we bring back our water, then we shall be able to irrigate easily and have secure agriculture to be able to solve other problems,” Museveni added.
On skyrocketing fuel prices, Museveni said that the solution is repair of the railway transport system which he said would reduce transport costs on cargo.
“In the next few years, we shall have our own petroleum but we cannot undersale it; it has to be at par with world prices minus transport,” Museveni said.
https://thecooperator.news/what-museveni-said-in-state-of-the-nation-address-2022/
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