By Andrew Irumba
Makerere University Vice Chancellor Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe’s days at as VC have become numbered, after Members of Parliament issuing a demand for his resignation, accusing him of failing to manage the University.
Nawangwe’s troubles worsened today after a section of legislators demanded that he resigns, because of handing over management of the University to police and the army, following a protracted student strike and subsequent brutal arrests of students.
The legislators demanding for Nawangwe’s resignation inlcude;Paul Mwiru, James Acidri, Latif Ssebaggala, Muwanga Kivumbi, Florence Namayanja, Barnabas Tinkasimire, and Gerald Karuhanga, who revealed this during a presser at Parliament today.
Their demand comes shortly after armed military officers raided Lumumba Hall and other hostels at the university where they brutally clobbered both female and male students, on top of allegedly sexually molesting them.
According to media reports, the military broke into 60 rooms, smashed students’ properties and forced them to seek refuge outside the university, amidst brutalising them.
The raid on the Hall happened amist students’ protest against a 15 per cent tuition increment, which is implemented as part of a policy which was passed by the University Council in June 2018 entered the fourth day.
The legislators say that the developements at Makerere today, are an indictment to the leadership of Prof. Nawangwe.
“The cry of the students on the cumulative increment of school fees is a real cry. It reflects what is happening in Uganda. The students are simply trying to express the poverty situation they live in because they know it is a reality, they will not be able to afford this tuition,” Maracha East MP James Acidri said.
He added that “Everybody in Uganda has a right to quality education and if the University administration brings a policy that is exclusive and resisted but forces its way through the army, then it is an indictment to the Institution’s leadership.
MP Karuhanga said events at Makerere University are exceedingly disturbing and embarrassing to government, wondering why government had to respond with military force against unarmed students protesting with placards.
“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 an degrading manner,” Karuhanga said.
He cautioned the government against torturing, threatening and abusing the rights of Ugandans.
Buyaga West MP Barnabas Tinkasimiire questioned why the army invaded student halls of residence and hostels in the night
Kawempe North MP Latif Ssebaggala said that the greatest enemies of Uganda are the people who brutalize others which he described as a great crime against humanity.
The legislators thereafter gave government an ultimatum of only one day for the army to vacate the University premises and also release the students that have been arrested, or else they will resort to Plan B, which they however didn’t reveal.
