The uproar for salary increments by public servants should be approached to wholly

Makerere University recently closed over government failing to meet the lecturer’s demand for 100% salary increments. Still fresh in our minds, are the teacher’s ultimatums to the government to meet their 25% salary increments. A Similar story can be told of medical doctors, the forces and by the way for a larger section of private sector employees

Public servants are chiefly salary earners and looking at what generally drains their take home, could give blue prints to solutions. They pay school fees, go to hospitals, travel; go to markets for food stuffs and other domestic consumption.

A simple observation for the past five years alone has indicated an increase in the cost to meet these necessities and the situation seem not about to take a different trend.

Therefore the call by public servant for salary increment is absolutely justifiable. However, responding to the same by mere increments alone is unsustainable without thorough diagnosis of the factors leading to the skyrocketing increase in the cost of living. Taking a snapshot at a few which are generally acceptable, 

-The rampant unemployment, this means increased dependency ratio on the few working ones.

-Corruption that has undermined government initiatives to infrastructure development, government institutions and programs, thus one ends paying up for a service/good that would have enjoyed freely or at much less  cost.

-Inflation that has seen the prices of the must consumables rise and so it becomes hard to have a meaningful saving from the net pay.   

Therefore the approach should be to contain these factors that are ever increasing the cost of livelihood. Let government stop corruption, make government institutions ie hospitals, public schools, public transport, affordable housing effectively work not forgetting boosting food security in the country. 

With such initiatives, the public servants can spend no or less on such necessities that are pre-supposedly provided for or their cost regulated by government. The long term effect is that more earning opportunities will be created through savings, investments and expanded production.