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Art teachers suspend strike in Uganda after meeting with President Museveni

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Art teachers under the aegis of the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) have called off the nearly 20-day strike in Uganda.

Art teachers across Uganda downed tools in June, threatening to throw the country’s education sector into another crisis, a few months after schools came out of two years of a shutdown that kept thousands of learners at home.

The tutors were demanding a uniform salary increment following the government’s decision to raise the salaries of their science counterparts by 300 percent.

Filbert Baguma, the UNATU General Secretary, revealed that while the government did not accept their demands for salary increments in the current financial year that started on July 1, the strike was not in vain since it has attracted attention to the teachers’ plight.

“We didn’t lose the battle. We chose to continue the discussion rather than close it. We have gained a lot from this industrial action. We got public and government attention. The government said they realize our issues and they’ll be addressed going forward. We can’t say we came out with nothing,” Mr. Baguma said.

UNATU announced the suspension of the strike hours after its top leadership met with President Yoweri Museveni and First Lady Janet, who is also the Minister of Education and Sports.

President Museveni, at the meeting, reiterated his earlier position of gradually enhancing the salaries of all civil servants but guided by a science-led strategy.

“This does not mean we have forgotten others, but we are choosing to prioritize the few and others can come later. We must finish one problem at a time. While the government acknowledges the issues raised by the Arts teachers, we are also aware of salary issues from other workers; the army, police officers, etc, who are equally important to the growth and development of this country,” Museveni said.

It is not uncommon to see prolonged industrial actions in the education sector in Africa. Elsewhere in the continent, Nigeria, University teachers have been on strike since February over a salary-related agreement the academic union had with the government in 2009.

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65% of Nigerian households lack money for healthy food—Survey

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A survey conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has revealed that around 65% of Nigerian households, which is about two-thirds of the population, lack the financial means to eat healthy food.

According to the survey by the agency, the decline is a reflection of the multidimensional poverty in the country and the impact of continuous reduction in the purchasing power of Nigerians due to rising prices of goods and services.

And as a result, two-thirds of households in the country lack money to eat healthy, nutritious food, the NBS said.

Titled “Nigeria General Household Survey – Panel (GHS-Panel) Wave 5 (2023/2024),” the survey examined demographics, education, and health trends in Nigeria, comparing data from Wave 4 (2018/19) and Wave 5 (2023/24).

On food insecurity, the survey stated:

“Approximately two out of three households indicated being unable to eat healthy, nutritious or preferred foods because of lack of money in the last 30 days.

“Similarly, 63.8 per cent of households ate only a few kinds of food due to lack of money, 62.4 percent were worried about not having enough food to eat, and 60.5 percent ate less than they thought they should.”

It added that between Waves 4 and 5, the proportion of households that reported being worried about not having enough food to eat because of lack of money increased significantly, from 36.9 percent to 62.4 percent.

On access to energy, the survey revealed said:

“82.2 percent of urban households have electricity, compared to 40.4 per cent in rural areas. Nigerian households face an average of 6.7 power blackouts weekly.

“Cooking typically involves traditional three-stone stoves (65.0 percent), primarily using wood as fuel (70.2 per cent), but with use of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) rising significantly.

“Many households lack toilet facilities and rely on tube wells or boreholes for drinking water. Waste disposal is mostly informal, with 45.6 percent of households using bushes or streets,” it added.

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Zambia: APP leader lampoons PF over pledge to reverse forfeited properties

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Leader of one of Zambia’s opposition parties, Advocates for People’s Prosperity (APP), Mwenye Musenge, has criticised the Patriotic Front (PF) over its promise to reverse forfeited properties if the party won the 2026 presidential election.

Musenge, who was reacting to a statement credited to the PF Member of Parliament (MP) for Lukashya Province, George Chisanga, described the PF’s promise as a betrayal, saying the declaration had exposed the party’s disregard for accountability and justice.

The APP leader, who spoke to Zambia Monitor in a telephone interview from Kitwe, expressed shock that Chisanga, a former Law Association of Zambia president, would endorse what he termed a “regressive agenda,” accusing the PF of prioritising the protection of corrupt individuals over the welfare of citizens.

“This declaration reveals the PF’s true intentions, returning to power not to serve Zambians, but to shield their corrupt network and restore stolen assets,” Musenge said.

He alleged that former President Edgar Lungu’s consistent calls to protect his family, who he claimed cannot explain their amassed wealth, further demonstrate the party’s self-serving mission.

Musenge further described the PF as “a political carcass animated by greed and nostalgia for its days of unchecked looting,” and accused its leaders of leaving Zambia impoverished while enriching themselves.

“Allowing them near power again would be akin to handing a butcher’s knife to a thief already drenched in the blood of the nation’s resources.

“The PF represents everything wrong with Zambian politics—a relic of the past clinging to survival through recycled lies and corrupt agendas,” he added.

Musenge went on to call for the party to be permanently eradicated, saying it had no vision, morality, or credibility to serve Zambians.

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