The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has condemned the recent human rights violations at Makerere University by the military.
This follows the brutal crackdown on student’s protest against the 15 percent tuition and functional fees increment that started on October 22, 2019.
Heavily armed soldiers stormed student’s residencies under the cover of darkness and clobbered them leaving several nursing injuries. They also brutalized journalists and blocked them from covering the student’s protest.
Speaking to journalists at the UHRC Commission offices on Tuesday, Commissioner, Patricia Achan Okiria, said the commission is concerned about the human rights violations involved in the strikes. She condemned the brutality students suffered at the hands of security agencies for trying to protect their right to education.
Achan noted the right to respect for human dignity and protection from inhuman treatment was violated. This she says played out in cases where students were beaten by security officers especially when they broke into halls of residence including Lumumba Hall.
The Commission further notes that the right to personal liberty, freedom of expression and assembly, economic rights of persons in areas neighboring Makerere University were violated.
Achan says that when students set out to protest peacefully on Tuesday when the strike began, they were exercising their rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
The Commissioner recommended that security officers who were implicated for human rights violations be sanctioned and disciplined. She also asked government to increase funding to public universities and subsidize taxes on scholastic materials and utilities and that Ministry of Education review the policy on tuition for students in public Universities.
Achan also asked the University administration to enhance their leadership and problem solving skills through dialogue.
Commissioner Victoria Rusoke called upon students to refrain from any acts of hooliganism, saying they should express their grievances within the confines of the law.
The situation has remained tense at Makerere University because of failure by management and student leaders to find a middle ground. During a meeting on Monday evening, student leaders tasked the university management to withdraw the policy before they could cease fire.
The University only decided to halt the enforcement of the 15% increment on functional fees maintained the tuition increment. The students still opposed the proposal and promise to hold a general assembly at the freedom square in the University.
However, the plans to have a general assembly have been frustrated with security taking over the converging area. Students, are not allowed to access the square.
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