By Hanning Mbabazi
Entebbe: Prof. Wison Mande Muyinda, the vice chancellor of Nkumba University has requested Gov’t to exempt private Universities and other private institutions of higher learning from exorbitant taxes to enable them deliver their mandate better.
The Chancellor expressed his grievancence on Wednesday June 18 while addressing media during the launch of the university’s jubilee celebrations. He said money given to private universities from government isn’t enough to enable them deliver their services. (https://lakeforestgc.com/)
“Government gives us little money yet much of the work required to run the university is left to us. We also play a big role towards the government teaching its people,’’ he said during the launch of jubilee celebrations for the Entebbe based private university.
Muyinda added that government taxation such as the property tax, Value Added Tax (VAT) on supplies make construction and development works in universities very expensive.
“In case we are to set up any building at the university, it’s very expensive because of the taxes collected on the building materials. Therefore, this VAT on the supplies should be exempted from private universities,’’ he said.
The launch was also attended by second deputy Katikkiro of Buganda Kingdom, Robert Waggwa Nsibirwa representing the Katikiro of Buganda who pleaded to government to support private universities because they support the government greatly in provision of high quality human resource needed in the country. “Running a private university is a big challenge because the resources become hard when you have no financial fathers and it’s difficult to run the university effectively.’’ He also appealed to the government to support private universities saying “Education is a public good like infrastructure and all public goods are provided by the government. So private sector complements the government.”
However, the retired Bishop George Ssenabulya who was the main celebrant appealed to universities to always emphasize discipline, time management and God fearing.
“For anyone to become successful, he or she must be God fearing because the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom which enables you to do right things at the right time and in the right place,’’ Ssenabulya said.
According to David Christopher Kasasa, the Dean of students, Nkumba started way back in 1952 as a kindergarten then evolved into a primary school to a secondary school which then graduated into the college of Commerce and finally acquired university status in 1994.
He added that Nkumba is one of the 10 chartered universities in Uganda. He thanked parents who invest in their children’s education noting that some parents are not in privileged positions to educate their children up to university level.
The main celebrations for the University’s silver jubilee celebrations are slated for September 31 2019.
