Presiding over the graduation ceremony of 413 secondary school headteachers in the broader Western Uganda, encompassing Mubende and Kasanda districts, at the National Leadership Institute (NALI) in Kyankwanzi, President Museveni addressed the attendees who had completed ideological orientation training. In response to appeals from arts teachers for increased salaries, Museveni conveyed that the awaited salary increments for public servants would be delayed, citing the necessity for social-economic transformation.
Museveni highlighted the challenge of funding substantial salaries without the foundational support of social-economic development, stating, “How will the state pay good salaries if there’s no social-economic transformation? Where does it get money from? When we took over the government, we were earning very small salaries for a long time; even now, I earn a small salary.”
He stressed that genuine social-economic transformation is a prerequisite for the government to secure the resources needed to boost the salaries of public servants. Museveni emphasized the interconnectedness of family-level transformation, job creation, income generation, and tax payment, asserting that this cycle contributes to the government’s financial capacity to provide better remuneration for its employees.
Defending his strategy of prioritizing sciences over arts in education and advocating for the well-being of science teachers, Museveni justified the emphasis on producing engineers and medical doctors over other disciplines. He shared his personal perspective, saying, “We need these scientists more because we need engineers and medical doctors, among others. I studied arts, but I cannot come with my Shakespeare to put up a bridge.”
Acknowledging a past conflict with teachers when allocating additional funds, Museveni revealed, “Recently, I was in a small war with you, the teachers. When we got a little bit of money, we decided to enhance the salaries of scientists. That is where the war started.” The President’s stance underscores the ongoing debate surrounding educational priorities and resource allocation in the pursuit of national development goals.
