Makerere University is once again in spotlight for having employed 70 ushers during the 68thgraduation ceremony and failed to pay their wage totaling to Shs13million.
According to a source that preferred anonymity, the chief usher Dr Edward Kisuze recruited them towards the January graduation ceremony and agreed to pay each Shs5,000 per day for lunch and Shs50,000 for each day of ushering.
However, the source now says that the money for both lunch and wage has never been paid.
“I worked for three days and that was supposed to be Shs 15,000 for lunch and Shs150,000 for the work I did, but I didn’t receive any coin. We gave them our mobile money numbers but still they didn’t send the money,” she said.
According to Kisuze, the delay has been caused by the new process of payment called Integrated Financial Management System(IFMS) that requires the recipient of the money to have a tax Identification Number (TIN).
“Actually it is not only the students who were not paid but also the staff members who worked during that period,” Kisuze said.
He adds that once the process is complete, all the ushers will be paid before sending us to the bursar Augustine Tamale for more explanation.
For his part, Tamale says they cannot pay students using IFMS because they are not permanent staff members, and their money can only be channeled via mobile money.
The bursar also said he doesn’t know what has caused the delay, but promised that the money would be paid soon.
Story by Christopher Tusiime
