Money woes at Makerere

Ambitious students

Following the arrest of Kateregga and the other students, Dr. Muhammad Kiggundu, the university communications manager, was in no doubt about what was going on.

“This usually happens during October and November because most of the students are yearning for power and want to be remembered when they contest in February,” Kiggundu told journalists referring to the period when the student guild elections are held each year.

He said the October strikes are usually spearheaded by third-year students who are exiting and continuing students with ambitions of leadership.

The question is why, if the university administration have analysed these patterns, does the strike culture persist and each strike is treated as a surprise?

Watching from the sidelines, other lecturers who have seen it before recognized the pattern. They saw young men and women running for student guild leadership but with ambitions that went beyond the university. Many wanted to join national politics with a bang. It had happened before.

Many leading politicians today are former Makerere university student leaders. They include two former presidential candidates and leaders of national political parties, Norbert Mao of DP and Olara Otunnu of the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) and several current and former MPs; Gerald Karuhanga, Gerald Kibalya, Emmanuel Dombo, Charles Rwomushana,  Anne Adeke Ebaju, Asuman Basalirwa (leader of JEEMA party).

Others are in politics but outside parliament like Sarah Kagingo, Susan Abbo, and Robert Rutaro. Even the current deputy Speaker of Parliament, Jacob Oulanyah is a former speaker of the Makerere University Students Guild. It is a pattern seen at almost all universities.

The strike started on Oct.22 when mainly female students announced a march to Nakasero State House to hand President Museveni a petition against the tuition increase.  The Guild Vice President, Judith Nalukwago, led them. Many waved placards denouncing the tuition policy.

“This university is for poor students. Those who increased the tuition have their children studying outside this country,” Nalukwago told journalists.

Police pounced on them before they could make the move and at least 20 students were arrested but later released on police bond.

By then the university had already suspended two students, including Siperia Mollie, a Psychology major and member of the Guild Representative Council (GRC) who were viewed as leaders of the strike. Mollie later emerged as a martyr of the strike when she was found unconscious after being attacked and molested by unknown people. Many believe her ordeal is attached to her role as a student leader.

The country was outraged. Members of Parliament said Makerere University Vice Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe is unfit for the job.

Some MPs; Gerald Karuhanga (Ntungamo) Latif Ssebagala (Kawempe North), Florence Namayanja (Bukoto East), Paul Mwiru (Jinja East), Muwanga Kivumbi (Butambala),  James Acidri (Maracha East), and  Barnabas Tinkasimire (Buyaga West) spoke to journalists at parliament.

“I personally think that the vice chancellor is not qualified to lead Makerere,” Acidri said, “The brutality at Makerere is something that I thought ended during the days of Gen Idi Amin.”

“Students have a disagreement over tuition increment, they come out with placards. The best you can do as a government is to come with military men, with tanks, brutalize, torture, treat them in the most inhumane and degrading manner,” Karuhanga said, “It was last seen during Idi Amin’s time where they picked students from their halls of residence and crashed their doors, crashed their materials but also went for the same students; breaking their legs, torturing them, some even raped, some pierced with knives.”

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