Kyambogo University’s reliance on part-time lecturers to sustain teaching has exposed a deeper problem at one of Uganda’s public universities: an institution struggling to fill its academic positions, unable to recruit enough permanent staff and now facing mounting pressure over unpaid wages.
More than 1,000 part-time lecturers have gone without payment for three months, State Minister for Sports Peter Ogwang told Parliament on Thursday, acknowledging that the university depends on a large pool of temporary academic workers to keep its programmes running.
The disclosure followed a petition dated October 12, 2026, from part-time academic staff seeking the payment of their outstanding allowances, better working conditions and changes to a compensation system they say leaves them struggling to meet basic expenses.
The dispute has brought into focus the university’s dependence on workers employed under short-term contracts, the limitations of its wage budget and the consequences of running academic programmes with substantially fewer permanent lecturers than its approved staffing structure provides.
Responding to concerns raised by Francis Akorikin, the Kapelebyong County member of Parliament, Ogwang said Kyambogo relies on more than 500 part-time lecturers because it has filled only 34 percent of its approved academic positions. The university, he said, does not have sufficient money in its wage budget to recruit additional permanent staff.
The arrangement has left part-time lecturers performing an essential role in the university’s academic operations while facing uncertainty over when they will be paid.
Akorikin warned Parliament that delayed allowances and difficult working conditions were affecting the quality of teaching. His concerns raised a question that extends beyond the lecturers’ individual grievances: how can a public university maintain the quality of its education when a significant portion of its teaching workforce is employed under precarious arrangements and is not paid on time?
The compensation dispute illustrates the financial pressures confronting the lecturers.
Under rates approved by the university’s Council, part-time academic staff earn Shs25,000 for every hour taught in day programmes and Shs45,000 an hour in evening programmes. The lecturers are demanding Shs50,000 an hour, arguing that other public universities pay comparable rates.
Ogwang cautioned against adopting the proposed rate without first establishing whether the comparisons were justified. Differences in lecturers’ academic qualifications, teaching loads and responsibilities, he said, would have to be considered before any changes were made.
He said university management would review the existing compensation framework but made clear that an increase would depend on the necessary approvals and the availability of funds.
For lecturers who have already spent three months waiting for their money, the prospect of a review offers no immediate assurance that their outstanding claims will be settled or that their future earnings will improve.
The university’s contractual arrangements present another difficulty.
Part-time lecturers are employed on four-month contracts, a structure the petitioners say denies them the stability needed to plan their lives and makes it difficult to obtain commercial bank loans.
Lenders often assess the security and continuity of a borrower’s income when deciding whether to extend credit. The lecturers argue that the short duration of their contracts places them at a disadvantage, even as they continue to provide teaching services to a government-owned institution.
Ogwang acknowledged that the contractual arrangements could influence how banks assess loan applications. He said the university would review its contract documentation, although any decision to extend the terms would have to take into account teaching requirements, staffing arrangements, employment law and available funding.
The review could address some of the uncertainty surrounding the lecturers’ employment, but the minister did not announce a new contract duration or commit the university to replacing the existing four-month arrangements.
Transport costs have also become a point of contention.
Kyambogo currently pays part-time lecturers a flat Shs10,000 daily transport refund. University management has acknowledged that the amount may no longer adequately cover travel costs at prevailing prices and has agreed to review it.
Any adjustment, Ogwang said, would depend on the institution’s financial resources.
The transport allowance, alongside the hourly teaching rates, illustrates the difference between the university’s reliance on part-time staff and the financial arrangements under which they work. While the lecturers help maintain academic programmes that the institution would struggle to run with its current number of permanent staff, their compensation and employment terms remain subject to reviews and budgetary constraints.
The outstanding payments have also complicated the university’s obligations to the National Social Security Fund.
Ogwang told Parliament that Kyambogo remits NSSF contributions on allowances that have already been paid but has not yet made the corresponding remittances on the outstanding claims.
The university is awaiting verification of the arrears by the Auditor General. The resulting report is expected to be submitted to the Treasury and Parliament before the payments can proceed.
The minister did not provide a figure for the total amount owed to the lecturers or specify when the audit process would be completed. Nor did he give a date by which the university expected to clear the three months of arrears.
The absence of a payment timetable leaves the affected lecturers uncertain about when they will receive money for work already performed, even as questions remain over the associated social security contributions.
Ogwang said the university’s Council had approved the monthly processing of teaching claims and that management would investigate the reasons the payments had continued to be delayed.
The approval of monthly processing suggests that the institution has recognised the need to address the delays. But the minister’s account also points to a distinction between processing claims and having the funds necessary to pay them.
For lecturers whose income depends on the hours they teach, the distinction is consequential. A claim can be recognised by an institution without the money becoming available when it is needed.
The minister’s response offered no immediate resolution to that problem. Instead, he appealed to the lecturers to continue teaching while the government and university sought additional funding.
“I call upon you to continue covering the gap as we look for available money,” he told Parliament.
The appeal underscored the university’s dependence on the same workers whose petition had brought their grievances before lawmakers. With only 34 percent of approved academic positions filled, the institution faces pressure to maintain its teaching programmes while working within a wage budget that, according to Ogwang, cannot support further permanent recruitment.
The minister’s remarks did not establish when the university might close the staffing gap or how many additional permanent lecturers it would need to reduce its reliance on part-time employees.
The parliamentary sitting, chaired by Speaker Jacob Oboth-Oboth, ended without a publicly stated deadline for settling the arrears. Parliament of Uganda and parliamentary monitors confirmed Ogwang’s response during the proceedings.
For now, the lecturers’ demands remain tied to a series of reviews, audits and funding decisions. Their hourly rates may be reconsidered, their transport refunds may be adjusted and their contracts may be examined. But none of those measures, as presented to Parliament, guarantees when the money already owed will reach them.
The immediate dispute is about unpaid allowances. Beneath it lies a broader institutional challenge: a public university relying on temporary workers to compensate for a shortage of permanent academic staff, while the workers sustaining its teaching programmes wait for payment and seek more stable conditions of employment.
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