Evoking his unwavering spirit of patriotism, Presidential Deputy Press Secretary Faruk Kirunda has beseeched striking teachers to call off their strike.
In a brief issued via his twitter handle Wednesday, Kirunda termed as “inconsiderate”, the move by teachers across the country to resort to industrial action at this time.
According to Kirunda, the economy is limping currently due to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic which it hasn’t yet recovered from.
Kirunda thus believes that by teachers striking, they disadvantage their learners whose parents are equally suffering to keep them in schools.
“Teachers on strike should be very considerate. The country is yet to recover from the effects of Covid-19 and the economy is highly stressed. Have mercy for the learners,” Kirunda tweeted.
Kirunda’s plea will be vindicated by economic figures which show that due to Covid-19 lockdown, Uganda’s economic growth plummeted from an average 5% to a record low of 3.5% last year.
And in the recent budget speech, Finance Minister Matia Kasaija revealed it is for this reason that the FY 2022/2023 strategy was built heavily around economic recovery to pre-Covid times.
Government thus resolved to tilt financing towards wealth creation effort as opposed to expenditure; yet this where striking teachers want to drag government.
It however remains to be seen how government will handle the matter, with minister Janet Museveni meant to meet the striking teachers next week.
