Court cancels Bazeyo appointment as Mak deputy VC

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Justice Musa Sekana, of the Civil Division of the High Court, has quashed the appointment of Professor William Bazeyo as the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration of Makerere University.

The ruling on Friday follows an application filed by Professor Anthony Mugisha in November 2018 in which he challenged the search process saying he was unfairly and unlawfully denied a chance to compete for the job. 

The application sought a judicial review of the decisions of the University Council, Senate and the Search Committee.     

In his ruling Justice Sekana agreed with the applicant that the search committee overstepped its mandate of only recommending five suitable candidates for the post. 

Speaking after the ruling, Professor Mugisha said that he was overjoyed by the ruling of a judicial review process citing that it presents a ray of hope for justice in the country.

On August 23rd 2018, the university council at its 143rd meeting directed the university Academic Organ of the university –the Senate, to constitute a Search Committee for the Positions of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic Affairs) and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Finance and Administration).

According to their terms of reference, the search committee headed by Professor Joseph Y.T Mugisha was to identify and propose to Makerere University Senate a maximum of five (5) suitable candidates for each of the positions and present back their report in two months.

The search committee according to its November 13, 2018 report to Senate received five applications for the position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor Finance and Administration and shortlisted two candidates who met the set criteria for the position.

The five applications were from Professor Anthony Mugisha, Professor William Bazeyo, Masaaba Napio Lama, who was kicked out because his application letter was not signed, had no PhD, no senior managerial experience and was a British.    

The two others, Dr Allan Katwalo Mulengani and Dr Charles Amone had their applications rejected for lack of letter of motivation and no five years of senior managerial experience, leaving two in the race.   

According to Professor Mugisha, instead of recommending and or forwarding the names of the two candidates that met the criteria to the university senate, the search committee took it upon itself, to compare the two candidates and declared Professor Bazeyo as the best and only candidate to be appointed for the post.

Professor Bazeyo obtained 86.42% beating Professor Mugisha who according to the report did not meet the minimum requirements and scored 58.19% below 60%, the search committee’s pass mark.  

Professor Mugisha says he was among the best two candidates for the same position in 2013 when Professor Barnabas Nawangwe who is the current Vice Chancellor was appointed for the same.

He says that the search committee illegally and unlawfully omitted his name from the list of the names forwarded and recommended to the University Senate with an obvious intention of fronting Professor Bazeyo unopposed.

Anthony Wameli, Professor Mugisha’s lawyer describes the court ruling as a big success citing that his client has a chance now to participate in a more transparent and fair competition.

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